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JBfy Daniel Coit Gilman 
With an introduction by 
Prof, Robert Dawidoff 



JAMES MONROE 



JAMES MONROE 

By Daniel Coit Gilman 

With an introduction by 

Prof. Robert Dawidoff 



American Statesmen Series 

General Editor, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. 

Mbert Schweitzer Professor of the Humanities 

The City University of New York 

CHELSEA HOUSE 
NEW YORK 1983 







3 



This edition is an edited reprint of the 
1898 edition pubUshed by Houghton 
Mifflin, Boston. 

Copyright © 1983 by Chelsea House Publishers 

All rights reserved 

Printed and bound in the United States of America 



ISBN: 0-87754-187-6 



General Introduction 



BLAZING THE WAY 
Arthur M. Schlesinger, jr. 

The original American Statesmen Series consisted 
of thirty-four titles pubhshed between 1882 and 1916. 
Handsomely printed and widely read, the Series made a 
notable contribution to the popular appreciation of 
American history. Its creator was John Torrey Morse, Jr., 
born in Boston in 1840, graduated from Harvard in 1860 
and for nearly twenty restless years thereafter a Boston 
lawyer. In his thirties he had begun to dabble in writing 
and editing; and about 1880, reading a volume in John 
Morley's English Men of Letters Series, he was seized by 
the idea of a comparable set of compact, lucid and 
authoritative lives of American statesmen. 

It was an unfashionable thought. The celebrated 
New York publisher Henry Holt turned the project 
down, telling Morse, "Who ever wants to read American 
history?" Houghton, Mifflin in Boston proved more 
receptive, and Morse plunged ahead. His intention was 
that the American Statesmen Series, when complete, 
"should present such a picture of the development of the 
country that the reader who had faithfully read all the 
volumes would have a full and fair view of the history of 
the United States told through the medium of the efforts 
of the men who had shaped our national career. The 
actors were to develop the drama." 

In choosing his authors, Morse relied heavily on the 
counsel of his cousin Henry Cabot Lodge. Between them, 
they enlisted an impressive array of talent. Henry Adams, 
William Graham Sumner, Moses Coit Tyler, Hermann von 



ARTHUR M. SCHLESINGER, JR. 

Hoist, Moorfield Storey and Albert Bushnell Hart v. ere all 
in their early forties when their volumes were puMished; 
Lodge, E. M. Shepard and Andrew C. McLaughlin in their 
thirties; Theodore Roosevelt in his twenties. Lodge took 
on Washington, Hamilton and Webster, and Morse liimself 
wrote five volumes. He offered the authors a choice of 
$500 flat or a royalty of 12.5^ on each volume sold. 
Most, luckily for themselves, chose the royalties. 

Like many editors, Morse found the experience exas- 
perating. "How I waded among the fragments of broken 
engagements, shattered pledges! I never really knew when 
I could count upon getting anything from anybody." Carl 
Schurz infuriated him by sending in a two-volume life of 
Henry Clay on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. Morse, who had 
confined Jefferson, John Adams, Webster and Calhoun to 
single volumes, was tempted to leave it. But Schurz 
threatened to publish his work simultaneously if Morse 
commissioned another life of Clay for the Series; so 
Morse reluctantly surrendered. 

When a former Confederate colonel, Allan B. Magru- 
der, offered to do John Marshall, Morse, hoping for "a 
good Virginia atmosphere," gave him a chance. The vol- 
ume turned out to have been borrowed in embarrassing 
measure from Henry Flanders's Lives and Times of the 
Chief justices. For this reason, Magruder's Marshall is not 
included in the Chelsea House reissue of the Series; 
Albert J. Beveridge's famous biography appears in its 
stead. Other classic biographies will replace occasional 
Series volumes: John Marshall's Life of George Wiishing- 
toii in place of Morse's biography; essays on John Adams 
by John Quincy Adams and Charles Francis Adams, also 
substituting for a Morse volume; and Henry Adams's Life 
of Albert Gallatin instead of the Series volume by John 
Austin Stevens. 

"I think that only one real blunder was made," Morse 
recalled in 1931, "and that was in allotting jjohnl Ran- 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION 

doiph to Henry Adams." Half a century earlier, however, 
Morse had professed himself pleased with Adams's 
Randolph. Adams, responding with characteristic self- 
deprecation, thought the "acidity" of his account "much 
too decided" but blamed the "excess of acid" on the 
acidulous subject. The book was indeed hostile but none- 
theless stylish. Adams also wrote a life of Aaron Burr, 
presumably for the Series. But Morse thought Burr no 
statesman, and on his advice, to Adams's extreme irrita- 
tion, Henry Houghton of Houghton, Mifflin rejected the 
manuscript. "Not bad that for a damned bookseller!" 
said Adams. "He should live for a while at Washington 
and know our real statesmen." Adams eventually des- 
troyed the work, and a fascinating book was lost to 
history. 

The definition of who was or was not a "statesman" 
caused recurrent problems. Lodge told Morse one day 
that their young friend Theodore Roosevelt wanted to do 
Gouverneur Morris. "But, Cabot," Morse said, "you sure- 
ly don't expect Morris to be in the Series! He doesn't 
belong there." Lodge replied, "Theodore . . . needs the 
money," and Morse relented. No one objected to Thomas 
Hart Benton, Roosevelt's other contribution to the Se- 
ries. Roosevelt turned out the biography in an astonishing 
four months while punching cows and chasing horse 
thieves in the Badlands. Begging Lodge to send more ma- 
terial from Boston, he wrote that he had been "mainly 
evolving [ Benton | from my inner consciousness; but 
when he leaves the Senate in 1850 I have nothing what- 
ever to go by. ... I hesitate to give him a wholly ficti- 
tious date of death and to invent all the work of his later 
years." In fact, T.R. had done more research than he 
pretended; and for all its defects, his Bcntofi has valuable 
qualities of vitality and sympathy. 

Morse, who would chat to Lodge about "the aristo- 
cratic upper crust in which you & I are imbedded," had a 



ARTHUR M. SCHLESINGER, JR. 

fastidious sense of language. Many years later, in the age 
of Warren G. Harding, he recommended to Lodge that 
the new President find someone "who can clothe for him 
his 'ideas' in the language customarily used by educated 
men." At dinner in a Boston club, a guest commented on 
the dilemma of the French ambassador who could not 
speak English. "Neither can Mr. Harding," Morse said. 
But if patrician prejudice improved Morse's literary taste, 
it also impaired his political understanding. He was not 
altogether kidding when he wrote Lodge as the Series was 
getting under way, "Let the Jeffersonians & the Jack- 
sonians beware' 1 will poison the popular mind!!" 

Still, for aJI its fidelity to establishment values, the 
American Statesmen Series had distinct virtues. The 
authors were mostly from outside the academy, and they 
wrote with the confidence of men of affairs. Their books 
are generally crisp, intelligent, spirited and readable. The 
Series has long been in demand in secondhand book- 
stores. Most of its volumes are eminently worth republi- 
cation today, on their merits as well as for the vigorous 
expression they give to an influential view of the Ameri- 
can past. 

Born during the Presidency of Martin Van Buren, John 
Torrey Morse, Jr., died shortly after the second inaugura- 
tion of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1937. A few years be- 
fore his death he could claim with considerable justice 
that his Series had done "a little something in blazing the 
way" for the revival of American historical writing in the 
years to come. 

Sew York 
May. 1980 



INTRODUCTION 



Robert Dawidoff 

Daniel Coit Gilman, the founding President 
of the Johns Hopkins University, spent his 
summers at Northeast Harbor on Mount Desert 
in Maine. There, he relaxed from the demand- 
ing rounds of his work in the world by compos- 
ing historical and other writings and taking so- 
ciable and literary pleasures in his summer 
stride. This book about James Monroe, his con- 
tribution to the American Statesmen Series, 
surely occupied him in the summertime. It 
bears the close yet detached relation that sum- 
mers often bear to academic years. While not in 
itself a monument of Oilman's career, his life 
of Monroe reveals many of the concerns and 
something of the energies of the author in the 
course of its account of its subject. To read this 
book now is to read about Gilman reading 
about Monroe. The interest of the book de- 



ROBERT DAWIDOFF 

peiids on our continuing interest in its author 
as well as its subject. 

President Gilman, as he was known to the 
best men of his day, represents the high-minded 
strain in nineteenth-century American national 
life. Born in Connecticut in 1831 to old colo- 
nial stock and new American prosperity, he 
studied the sciences at Yale and some geogra- 
phy at Harvard. He saw brief diplomatic service 
in Russia with his close mate Andrew Dickson 
White. In 1856, Gilman joined his old teacher 
James Dwight Dana, whose biography he later 
wrote, in starting and running the Sheffield 
Scientific School at Yale, where he also taught 
and supervised the Hbrary; this establishment 
was the first to make use of Morrill Act monies 
for scientific and technical purposes, thus pio- 
neering American scientific education. 

After missing out on the presidency of Yale, 
declining the one at Wisconsin and failing to ac- 
climate himself to the presidency at California, 
Gilman accepted the first presidency of a new 
research university and medical school in Balti- 
more. Having searched Christendom for a dis- 
tinguished faculty, he presided over the univer- 
sity with grand success for twenty-seven years. 
Afler his resignation he became the initiating 
head of the Carnegie Institution. Throughout, 



INTRODUCTION 

Gilman was one of that select and prominent 
cadre of university presidents who gained so 
much prestige and threw around so much 
weight in nineteenth-century middle-class cul- 
ture. A successful administrator, a spokesman 
for the best American values and aspirations, a 
practical ornament of a burgeoning social sys- 
tem, Gilman appeared to unite in one lofty, 
hopeful soul the very model of a modern dem- 
ocratic mandarin. 

The American mandarin was somewhat 
fresh-faced in that age. He had the duty to rep- 
resent a new and robust version of an old cul- 
ture, the American version of Western values. 
He pioneered that blend of ideal and pragmatic 
whose essential disunity it has been the mission 
of the American University and its attendant 
classes to deny, and whose divisions have ener- 
gized and plagued American culture. Symbolic 
of the perils of that profession is what befell 
Gilman when he rose to speak for America at 
the tercentenary celebration of the university 
at Dublin: "in beauteous array and stately de- 
meanor, he had to sustain the whole, standing 
with gravest and most benignant mien, till the 
band could finish 'Yankee Doodle' . . ." 

Scholarship might not be the principal oc- 
cupation of such a cultural tycoon— but it was 



ROBERT DAWIDOFF 



an essential part of his expertise to recognize 
and evaluate scholarship, institutionalize its 
contributions to American life and articulate 
its interests therein. He might, as Gilman did, 
try his hand at scholarly things even as his em- 
inence brought him high in the world. As well 
as a figment of his duty, it was something of a 
parlor trick, a recreation; indeed, Gilman at 
work on his Monroe su^ests Washington at his 
plow and Jefferson at home. Something of Gil- 
man's real satisfaction in his mandarin calling is 
reflected in his off-hours writings. He ap- 
proaches them as a gifted amateur might, and 
with the particular privilege that a man of the 
world takes. when he revisits the narrow pre- 
cincts of his youth and explores again the 
neighborhood that might have confined him 
but did not. There is a lighthearted, even pro- 
prietary quality that makes this sort of thing 
attractive and reminds us of a historical writing 
that responded to other than completely pro- 
fessional motives. 

For if Gilman epitomized a new spirit of 
"professionalism," he did not write as a profes- 
sional historian might. He remarked this him- 
self, hoping that his book on Monroe might 
spur Henry Adams to extend his History to 
those years, and distinguishing the contribu- 



INTRODUCTION 

tions to his Monroe by J. Franklin Jameson 
from his own: Jameson's being meant for 
scholars, his for a general reader. Gilman wrote 
as an American, an educator, an amateur, a lib- 
erally schooled man, a mandarin. 

James Monroe offered Gilman a fitting sub- 
ject. Here was a Founding Father, a great 
American in need of the rescue an "American 
Scholar" might perform. For it is one of the 
contentions of the book and one of the sad 
facts of our history that while James Monroe 
did not lack the character or patriotism of the 
memorable public servant, he lacked the origin- 
ality, the greatness, the appeal, the qualities 
that excite the public imagination beyond ap- 
probation to deep affection and lasting mem- 
ory. Monroe lived deeply and importantly in 
the crucial events of his time but bore a com- 
panion, not a titan's, relation to them. He com- 
promised and administered and managed and 
survived where others initiated, surmounted, 
led and insisted. His youthful ardors, his limita- 
tions and circumstances betrayed him on oc- 
casion, and like Gilman, he knew jobs that 
didn't suit and projects that didn't come off. 
He must have appealed, Monroe, to the settling 
imagination of President Gilman, with his tal- 
ent for getting things done. Gilman knew Mon- 



ROBERT DAWIDOFF 

roe's reputation and dues would depend on a 
knowledge of the events of the day, on the du- 
ties of unglamorous governing, on the capacity 
to learn from mistakes, on the ability to em- 
ploy and make the best use of and even com- 
promise among more vibrant, febrile and tal- 
ented associates and to put the ideal into prag- 
matic practice. The very facts that contributed 
to Monroe's undeserved obscurity made him 
admirable and worthy of remark to such as 
Gilman. 

Oilman's Monroe resembles a folio more 
than a biography. Informal, even personal in 
tone, varied and observational in character, the 
book conducts a series of forays into the 
known facts of Monroe's career. Unsurprising- 
ly, Monroe's private life— a very private life, as 
it happened— does not especially interest Gil- 
man, although he gives a good account of the 
growth and display of what we would call Mon- 
roe's personality, his character. Gilman assumes 
the context against which Monroe's public life 
was lived. He estimates the historical knowl- 
edge of the general reader at a reasonably high 
level and assumes a common narrative, a com- 
mon fund of iiainrs and geography, a common 
recognition of lh(* crucial polilical and diplo- 
matic events of the first fifty years of the inde- 



INTRODUCTION 

pendent American nation. Born as he was in 
the year of Monroe's death, Gilman remem- 
bered, or remembered the remembering of, 
what for us is an antique past. He lamented 
that along with Monroe, many once venerated 
Americans were in danger of being forgot. The 
oblivion to which the public mind consigns sec- 
ondary figures after a certain time disturbed 
him and signified a possible loosening of the 
populist grip on the national heritage. 

The theme of the Monroe, then, is to recall 
James Monroe to the general mind. To do this, 
Gilman shows Monroe in various stages of his 
career and in intimate relation to the important 
public business of his time. He emphasizes his 
closeness to Jefferson and Madison, his service 
to the country on the field of battle and in di- 
plomacy. The recurrent theme of the book is 
Monroe's contribution to what we might call 
American nationalism; "the one idea which he 
represents consistently from the beginning to 
the end of his career is this, that America is for 
Americans." Generous selections from Mon- 
roe's correspondence and papers, along with J. 
Franklin Jameson's summaries of Monroe's 
presidential m(^ssages and a bibliography of 
writings pertaining to Monroe and the Monroe 
Doctrine, give the more haphazard claims a sol- 



ROBERT DAWIDOFF 

idity of specification and a scholarly weight. 

Although not history or biography by the 
sternest standards of that time or this, Gilman's 
Monroe has characteristic charms and interest. 
The pervasive sense that American history is 
still available to the interested literate citizen 
lightens the heart too used to the superior 
claims of technical scholarship. Gilman did not 
consider the history of his country beyond his 
capacity to write and to judge, and his judg- 
ments authenticate his confidence. His convic- 
tion that history had not dealt fairly enough 
with Monroe has surely been borne out, and his 
work anticipated in several of its emphases the 
scholarship that followed. The book conveys a 
valuable sense that our view of James Monroe 
matters, that the consequences of misjudging a 
patriot will be serious in the present age. 

To bring Monroe back, as it were, Gilman 
calls upon something deeper than scholarship. 
He summons Monroe up through memory, 
through documents and in the light of certain 
propositions of correct thinking prevalent in 
his own latter day. What results is a rambling 
but convincing story, as if related by an adult 
about a grcat-grandfatluT he never knc^w but 
heard tell of. Gilman refers to himsi^lf reading 
Monroe's papers or ielliTS, When the occasion 



INTRODUCTION 

arises, iie cites letters from his own Colt rela- 
tions to make a point about the political cli- 
mate of the 1790s. He uses inherited as op- 
posed to analytical categories. If he does not 
create narrative or biography exactly, he does 
intimate a feeling for the way in which a career 
took shape in the early days of the republic. 
The life of Monroe must always challenge the 
biographer because, excellent and important as 
he was, he did not put a distinctive stamp on 
his age. Even his most famous acts, negotiating 
the Louisiana Purchase or proclaiming the 
Monroe Doctrine, did not take place in such a 
way as to establish his paramount importance 
to them. As a popular and able chief executive, 
Monroe presided over calm and change and 
compromise and contention, moderating and 
mediating what could not be helped. His stamp, 
to some extent, was the absence of a stamp. 
The public career of Monroe comprises what 
was venlur(;d and what was gained during his 
times. Oilman's prompting of a faulty public 
memory of Monroe serves his subject well. 
Oilman's emphasis on Monroe's disinterested 
public-mindcdncss expressed the conviction of 
his own kind that the American nation needed 
such servic<; sorely y<;t. In a way, Monroe of- 
fered a more possible model for a democratic 



ROBERT DAWIDOFF 

elite than his larger-looming fellows. The nine- 
teenth-century middle class cherished notions 
of character that made much more than the 
eighteenth century had thought to do of how 
one might make something of one's self. Mon- 
roe's very lack of genius made him more of a 
sample of the kind of American Gilman had in 
mind to encourage his public to emulate than 
some transcending but inimitable genius. Char- 
acter, formed by dint of will and hazard of ex- 
perience in a tough and unnerving world— that 
Monroe had and anyone might, according to 
Gilman. He treats with a light and almost even 
hand Monroe's victories and disappointments. 
What orders the portrayal are the constants of 
his character in the building and of his career in 
the making. For along with character went ca- 
reer. Character was the person, and career the 
expression of the person in a life of good work. 
Gilman presents Monroe's public life as if it 
were a nineteenth-century career, not like 
Washington's, ordained, or like Jefferson's, the 
promptings of genius, but the sort of thing a 
man might do and must work at and must ex- 
pect his ups and downs at. Lofty as were his 
motives, Monroe's (iown-lo-earlh experiences 
nujsl iiave made s(Mise lo a reading American 
audience at that time, lie did help himself and 



INTRODUCTION 

iear.k nom his mistakes and master his profes- 
sion and do a creditable job, all in all. In that 
available sort of achievement did Gilman^s 
Monroe's greatness lie. 

Monroe's principal interest to Gilman and 
his readers was the Virginian's important role 
in the expansion of the American nation. Hav- 
ing seen some diplomatic service himself, Gil- 
man brought to his accounts of Monroe's suc- 
cesses and misadventures abroad a certain gusto 
and empathy. That record of negotiation with 
revolutionary parliaments and totalitarian re- 
gimes looks pretty good these days. While Gil- 
man's particular accounts of war and diplo- 
macy and expansion have been superseded, 
they retain a glow of the real unmixed pleasure 
he and his age experienced when reading the 
saga of American national development. The 
late-century American obsession with the is- 
lands and oceans, commerce and adventures, 
and the renewed interest in the Monroe Doc- 
trine on the part of an emerging international 
power surfaced in Gilman 's treatment of Mon- 
roe's nationalist, diplomatic and military as- 
pects. The course of modern history brought 
life and a certain intensity to those parts of the 
book. The reviewer for Tlie Nation (April 19, 
1883) agreed with Gilman that Monroe had 



ROBERT DAWIDOFF 

been unjustly neglected and unfairly compared 
to incomparable men— at least the nationalist 
Monroe, the true Monroe. The Dictionary of 
American Biography entry on Monroe con- 
sidered Oilman's book **an interesting interpre- 
tation but hardly complete or free from the 
note of eulogy." A fair statement of Oilman's 
work on Monroe came in connection with his 
biography of James Dwight Dana, about which 
a reviewer in the American Historical Review 
noted that ". . . it displays all the sympathy 
and catholicity of spirit, the versatility of mind 
and the vivacity of style for which President 
Gilman is noted," but "somehow, one hardly 
knows why, he [Dana] does not seem so im- 
pressive a figure in this biography as he did in 
the flesh." As a biographer, Gilman remained 
perhaps too lofty an educational statesman. 
Subsequent historians have realized Oilman's 
hope that justice be done James Monroe. In 
1971, Harry Ammon published /ames Monroe: 
The Quest for National Identity, a comprehen- 
sive and detailed study that ought to prevail as 
a standard work. It makes with assurance and 
scholarly care the kind of case for Monroe's im- 
portance that Gihnan senses needed making. 
Aniinon conclud(ul his book with John Quincy 
Adams's summary of Monroe's presidency (dis- 



INTRODUCTION 

claiming the hyperbole): "Thus strengthening 
and consolidating the federative edifice of his 
country's Union, till he was entitled to say, like 
Augustus Caesar of his imperial city, that he 
had found her built of brick and left her con- 
structed of marble." George Dangerfield in The 
Era of Good Feelings suggests another way of 
looking at Monroe: 

What confronted him was a more alluring possibility; 
that inaction might become wisdom. To let things 
slide; to observe and modify but not actually attempt 
to shape the course of events; all Monroe's instincts 
urged him to such a course. It had, it is true, some dis- 
tressing results. It meant the death of the old— the "ar- 
dent"— Republican Party as a national force, and its 
transfiguration into a sectional one. It meant that Mon- 
roe must drift, at a slightly increasing tempo, along the 
stream of neo-Federalist ideas which had already cap- 
tured his predecessor. It meant that the clash of parties 
would give way to the clash of personalities. It meant 
the most vicious quarrels at the top, and the most pe- 
culiar incoherence underneath. But the one-party gov- 
ernment of James Monroe gave this very incoherence a 
chance to develop a shape, however vague, and a direc- 
tion, however veering. . . . His services as President 
might be summed up in four words— he personified an 
inlcrim. 

Oilman could n(;vcr own such sentiments. He 



ROBERT DAWIDOFF 

knew the American shape and approved the 
American direction and credited James Monroe 
with a leading part in the directing and shaping 
of that America he so fortunately inherited. 

Claremont, California 
August, 1980 



SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 



Books on James Monroe 

Ammon, Harry. James Monroe: The Quest for National 
Identity, 1971. 

Dangerfield, George. The Era of Good Feelings, 1953. 

Monroe, James. Autobiography. Edited by Stuart 
Brown, 1959. 

. Writings. 7 vols. Edited by S. M. Hamilton, 



1898-1903. 

Perkins, Dexter. A History of the Monroe Doctrine. 
Rev. ed., 1963. 

Books on Daniel Coil Gilnian 

Bledsleiri, Burton J. The Cullnrc of Professionalism: 
The Middle Class and the Development of Higher Edu- 
cation in America, 1976. 



INTRODUCTION 

Franklin, Fabian. The Life of Daniel Coit Gilman, 
1910. 

Gilman, Daniel Coit. The Launching of a University^ 
1906. 



JAMES MONROE 



CHAPTER I 

STUDENT AND SOLDIER 

The name of James Monroe, fifth president 
of the United States, is associated with the chief 
political events in the history of this country 
during a period of somewhat more than fifty 
years. He served with gallantry in the army 
of the Revolution and was high in office during 
the progress of the second contest with Great 
Britain, and during the Seminole war ; he was 
a delegate and a senator in Congress ; he was 
called to the chief legislative and executive sta- 
tions in Virginia; he represented the United 
States in France, Spain, and England ; he was 
a prominent agent in the purchase of Louisiana 
and Florida; he was a member of Madison's 
cabinet, and directed (for a while simultane- 
ously) the departments of State and War ; he 
was twice chosen president, the second time 
by an almost unanimous vote of the electoral 



2 JAMES MONROE 

college ; his name is given to a political doctrine 
of fundamental importance ; his administration 
is known as " the era of good feeling : " yet no 
adequate memoir of his life has been written, 
and while the pajjers of Washington, Adams, 
Jefferson, and Madison — his four predecessors 
in the offtce of president — have heen collected 
and printed in a convenient form, the student 
of Monroe's career must search for the data in 
numerous public documents, and in the unas- 
sorted files of unpublished correspondence. 

Monroe is not alone among the illustrious 
Virginians whose memory it is well to revive. 
Many years ago, St, George Tucker wrote to 
William Wirt, in a half-playful, half-earnest 
tone, that Socrates himself would pass unnoticed 
and forgotten in Virginia, if he were not a public 
character and some of his speeches preserved in 
a newspaper. " Who knows anything," he asks, 
" of Peyton Randolj^h, once the most popular 
man in Virginia? Who remembers Thompson 
Mason, esteemed the first lawyer at the bar ; or 
his brotlier George Mason, of whom I have heard 
Mr. Madison say that he possessed the greatest 
talents for debate of any man he had ever heard 
speak? What is known of Dabney Carr but 
that he made the motion for appointing com- 
mittees of correspondence in 1773? Virginia 
has produced few men of finer talents, as I 



STUDENT AND SOLDIER 3 

have repeatedly heard, I might name a num- 
ber of others," continues Tucker, "highly re- 
spected and influential men, . . . yet how little 
is known of one half of them at the present 
day ? " Certainly in this second " era of good 
feeling " the impartial study of such lives is a 
most inviting field of biographical research, and 
may especially be commended to advanced stu- 
dents in our universities, who can, by careful 
delineations, each of some one career, contribute 
to the general stock of historical knowledge, 
and acquire, at the same time, a vivid personal 
interest in the progress of past events. 

I shall not attempt to give in detail the per- 
sonal and domestic history of Monroe, nor can 
I, in the space at command, do justice to his 
voluminous writings ; but I shall endeavor to 
show what he was in public, how he bore himself 
in the legislative, diplomatic, and administrative 
positions to which he was called, and what in- 
fluence he exerted upon the progress of this 
country. It will be necessary for the complete- 
ness of the study to inquire into the early train- 
ing which gave an impulse to his life, and to 
examine, in conclusion, the opinions pronounced 
upon his conduct by those who knew him and 
by those who came after him. Another hand 
will doubtless draw a more elaborate portrait ; 
I shall only try to give a faithful sketch of an 



4 JAMES MONROE 

honest and patriotic citizen as he discharged the 
duties of exalted stations. The materials for a 
complete memoir will soon be at command, when 
the publication of the writings of James Monroe, 
edited by S. M. Hamilton, shall be completed.^ 

James Monroe, according to the family tradi- 
tion recorded by his son-in-law, came from a 
family of Scotch cavaliers, descendants of Hec- 
tor Monroe, an officer of Charles I.^ His parent- 
age on both sides was Virginian. The father 
of James was Spence Monroe, and his mother 
was Eliza Jones, of King George County, a 
sister of Joseph Jones, who was twice sent as a 
delegate from Virginia to the Continental Con- 
gress, and afterwards, in 1789, was appointed 
judge of the district court in the same State. 
Westmoreland County, where the future presi- 
dent was born, lies on the right bank of the 
Potomac, between that river and the Rappahan- 
nock. It is famous for the fertility of its soil, 
and for the eminent men who have been among 
its inhabitants. Near the head of Monroe's 
Creek, which empties into the Potomac, James 
Monroe was born, April 28, 1758. Not far 
away, nearer the Potomac, was the birthplace 
of George Washington. In the same vicinity 

1 New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons, 6 vols. 8vo. 1898. 
^ See Appendix. 



STUDENT AND SOLDIER 6 

dwelt Richard Henry Lee and his noted bro- 
thers, and also their famous cousin, Henry Lee, 
known as " Light Horse Harry," whose still 
more famous son, Robert E. Lee, led the Con- 
federate army in the recent war. Here also 
was the early home of Bushrod Washington. 
The birthplace of James Madison was in the 
same peninsula, though not in the same county. 
It is not strange that the enthusiastic antiqua- 
ries, half a century ago, — Martin, Barber, and 
the rest, — should speak of this region as the 
Athens of Virginia, an expression which may 
not be regarded as exact by classical scholars, 
but cannot be called unpatriotic. The ascend- 
ency of this region is not without its parallel.^ 

During Monroe's boyhood, his neighbors and 
friends were greatly excited by the passage of 
the Stamp Act. In 1766, several of them, in- 

^ A recent writer (Hon. F. J. Kingsbury) on old Connecticut 
makes the following remark: " From the earliest settlement 
of Connecticut down to the end of the first quarter of the 
present century, agriculture was the important branch of our 
industry, and land was the source as well as the representative 
of most of our wealth. For two hundred years it is safe to 
say that the good land governed the State. Everywhere it 
was only necessary to know the soil in order to know also the 
character of the people. The best soil bore everywhere the 
best men and women, and that seed which had been winnowed 
out of the granaries of the old world to plant in the new, did 
not take unkindly to the strong uplands and rich bottoms of 
the great river and its tributaries." 



6 JAMES MONROE 

eluding Richard Henry Lee, Spence Monroe, 
and John Monroe, joined in a remonstrance 
against the execution of the act, and in many 
other ways showed their hostility to the arbi- 
trary rule of the British government. Lee had 
received an academic training about ten years 
before at an academy in Wakefield, Yorkshire, 
and was a correspondent of men of station in 
Jjondon. He suggested to his neighbors, in 
1767, that they should subscribe for a portrait 
of Camden, then Lord High Chancellor, as a 
token of their admiration for his opposition to 
the Stamp Act. The amount which they raised, 
£76 8s., was sent to Mr. Edmund Jennings, Lin- 
coln's Inn, London, with a request that he would 
take the requisite steps to procure the portrait. 
Sir Joshua Reynolds was " the limner " selected 
by the Virginians, but Lee did not hesitate to 
give his personal opinion that " Mr. West, being 
an American, ought to be preferred in this mat- 
ter." Lord Camden, wrote Jennings, "having 
appointed several different times for Mr. West's 
attending on him, hath at length, it seems, to- 
tally forgot his promise. . . . Draw for the 
money, and should his lordship at any time 
recollect his engagement, and be worthy of 
your approbation and honoring, I shall beg the 
gentlemen [of Westmoreland] to accept from 
me his portrait." The Virginians were also 



STUDENT AND SOLDIER 7 

eager to have a portrait of Lord Chatham, and 
their correspondent, Mr. Jennings, had a fine 
likeness copied and sent to the old Dominion. 
Lee wrote fi'om Chantilly, in 1769, that the gen- 
tlemen of Westmoreland returned their thanks 
" for the very genteel present of Lord Chat- 
ham's picture. It arrived in fine order, and is 
very much admired. They propose to place it 
in the courthouse, thinking the Assembly may 
furnish themselves with his lordship's picture." 
He adds that his brother. Dr. Lee, can show Mr. 
Jennings " the proceedings of our last Assem- 
bly, by which you may judge how bright the 
flame of liberty burns here, and may surely con- 
vince a tyrannous administration that honesty 
and equity alone can secure the cordiality and 
affection of Virginia." Under influences like 
these the young Monroe was trained in the love 
of civil liberty. Indeed, Bishop Meade declares 
that Virginia had been fighting the battles of 
the Revolution for one hundred and fifty years 
before the Declaration. ^ 

The College of William and Mary had been 
in existence, with varying fortunes, not far from 
one hundred and fifteen years, when James 
Monroe entered it as a student, a short time 
before the beginning of the war. Its historian 
claims that it was then the richest college in 
1 Old Churches, etc., of Virginia, i. 15. 



8 JAMES MONROE 

North America, having an annual income of 
£4,000. A scholar cannot read the early ac- 
counts of that venerable foundation, next in age 
to Harvard, and examine the list of those who 
have been trained for their country's service 
within its walls, without deep regret that the 
fire and the sword have so often interfered with 
its prosperity, or without rejoicing that its name 
and usefulness are still honorably perpetuated. 

When Monroe began his college studies, Wil- 
liamsburg, the strategic point of the peninsula 
between the James and the York, was the seat 
both of the colonial government and of the col- 
lege. Bishop Meade, with conscious exaggera- 
tion, speaks of the capital as a miniature copy 
of the Court of St. James, " while the old church 
and its grave-yard, and the college chapel were 
— si licet cum magnis componere parva — the 
Westminster Abbey and the St. Paul's of Lon- 
don, where the great ones were interred." 

At the signal of rebellion against the British 
authoi'ity, three of the professors and between 
twenty-five and thirty students are said to have 
joined their comrades from Harvard, Yale, and 
Princeton in the military ranks. Among the 
volunteers John Marshall and James Monroe 
were found. In allusion to these young patriots, 
Hon. H. B. Grigsby, in his historical discourse 
on the Virginia Convention of 1776, spoke as 
follows : — 



STUDENT AND SOLDIER 9 

" I see that generous band of students who at the 
beginning of the Revolution hurriedly cast aside the 
gown and sallied forth to fight the battles of the 
United Colonies ; . . . and when the struggle was 
past I see two tall and gallant youths, who had been 
classmates in early youth, and whose valor had shone 
on many a field, enter their names on your lists and, 
after an abode beneath your roof, depart once more 
to serve their country in the Senate and In the most 
celebrated courts of Europe, crowning their past ca- 
reer by filling, one the chief magistracy of the Union, 
the other the highest of the federal judiciary." 

It is also worthy of incidental mention that 
the Phi Beta Kappa Society, still flourishing in 
American colleges, the earliest of " Greek-letter 
fraternities," was formed at William and Mary, 
December 5, 1776. The first meeting, we are 
told, was held in the Apollo Hall of the old 
Raleigh tavern, a room in which the burning 
words of Patrick Henry had been heard. In 
the printed list of original members the names 
of John Marshall and Bushrod Washington 
appear, but I do not find James Monroe's. 

The public career of James Monroe began 
in 1776 with his joining the Continental army 
at the headquarters of Washington near New 
York, as a lieutenant in the third Virginian regi- 
ment under Colonel Hugh Mercer. He was with 
the troops at Harlem (September 16), and at 



10 JAMES MONROE 

White Plains (October 28), and at Trenton, 
where he received an honorable wound (Decem- 
ber 26). His part in the last mentioned en- 
gagement is described by General Wilkinson in 
his printed memoirs, and with slightly different 
language in a manuscript preserved in the 
Gouverneur papers. From this statement it ap- 
pears that, as the British were forming in the 
main street of Trenton, the advanced guard of 
the American left was led by Captain William 
Washington and Lieutenant James Monroe. 
The British were driven back and two pieces of 
artillery were captured. Captain Washington 
was wounded through the wrist, and Lieutenant 
Monroe through the shoulder. " These particu- 
lar acts of gallantry," says the narrative, " have 
never been noticed, yet they cannot be too 
highly appreciated, since to them may, in a 
great measure, be ascribed the facility of our 
success." 

During the campaigns of 1777-78 Monroe 
served as a volunteer aid, and with the rank of 
major, on the staff of the Earl of Stirling, and 
took part in the battles of Brandywine (Sep- 
tember 11), Germantown (October 4), and 
Monmouth (June 28).^ His temporary promo- 
tion appears to have been an obstacle to his 

* He is said to have been with Lafayette when the latter 
was woiinded. 



STUDENT AND SOLDIER 11 

permanent preferment, for by it he lost his 
place in the Continental line. Strong influences 
were brought to bear in Virginia to secure for 
him some suitable position in the forces of that 
State. Lord Stirling gave him testimonials, 
and the commander-in-chief wrote a long let- 
ter, — addressed to Colonel Archibald Cary, and 
doubtless intended for other eyes, — rehearsing 
in terms of careful commendation the merits of 
young Monroe. These are the words of Wash- 
ington : — 

" The zeal he discovered by entering the service at 
an early period, the character he supported in his 
regiment, and the manner in which he distinguished 
himself at Trenton, when he received a wound, in- 
duced me to appoint liim to a captaincy in one of the 
additional regiments. This regiment failing, from the 
difficulty of recruiting, he entered into Lord Stirling's 
family and has served two campaigns as a volunteer 
aid to his lordship. He has in every instance main- 
tained the reputation of a brave, active, and sensible 
officer. As we cannot introduce him into the Conti- 
nental line, it were to be wished that the State could 
do something for him. If an event of this kind could 
take place, it would give me particular pleasure ; as 
the esteem I have for him, and a regard to his merit, 
conspire to make me earnestly wish to see him pro- 
vided for in some handsome way." 

But even the possession of a good record, 



12 JAMES MONROE 

and the encouragement of Washington, with 
the indorsements of Lord Stirling and the 
patronage of Jefferson, could not effect every- 
thing. Mr. Adams says the exhausted state of 
the country prevented the raising of a new regi- 
ment, and the active military services of Mon- 
roe were afterwards restricted to occasional 
duties as a volunteer in defense of the State 
against the distressing invasions with which it 
was visited. Once, after the fall of Charleston, 
S. C, in 1780, according to the same writer, he 
re-appeared, by request of Governor Jefferson, 
as a military commissioner to collect and report 
information with regard to the condition and 
prospects of the Southern army, — a trust 
which he discharged to the satisfaction of the 
authorities.^ He thus attained to the rank of 
lieutenant-colonel, and here his military services 
were interrupted. 

It is not surprising to discover that the young 
officer, who had quickly attained distinction, 
was paralyzed by inactivity. " Till lately," he 
writes to Lord Stirling in September, 1782, 
apologizing for a long epistolary silence, " I 
have been a recluse. Chagrined with my dis- 
appointment in not attaining the rank and com- 
mand I sought, chagrined with some disappoint- 
ments in a private line, I retired from society 

1 Eulogy by J. Q. Adams. 



STUDENT AND SOLDIER 13 

with almost a resolution never to return to it 



again." 



In this state of mind he thought of going 
abroad, to spend some time in the south of 
France, probably at Montpellier, with perhaps 
a year at the Temple in London. Jefferson 
wrote a letter introducing him to Franklin, then 
resident in Paris, but " a series of disappoint- 
ments respecting the vessels he had expected to 
sail in " prevented his departure ; and he con- 
tinued, under Jefferson's guidance, the reading 
of law. There is an interesting letter addressed 
to Monroe, in the time of his despondency, by 
Judge Jones, whose name has already been 
mentioned. It combines the shrewd remarks 
upon political affairs of a man in public life, 
with confidential suggestions to a nephew whom 
he was watching with almost paternal affection. 
Monroe had consulted his uncle as to whether it 
would be best for him to follow the lectures on 
law to be given by Mr. Wythe, in the college 
at Williamsburg, or to follow the fortunes of 
Mr. Jefferson, then governor, at Richmond. 
He received the following reply : — 

JOSEPH JONES TO JAMES MONROE, MARCH 7, 1780. 

" This post will bring you a letter from me, ac- 
counting for your not hearing sooner what had been 
done in your affairs. If your overseer sends up be- 
fore next post-day you shall hear the particulars. 



14 JAMES MONROE 

Charles Lewis, going down to the college, gives me 
an opportunity of answering, by him, your inquiry 
respecting your removal with the governor, or at- 
tending Mr. Wythe's lectures. If Mr. Wythe means 
to pursue Mr. Blackstone's method I should think 
you ought to attend him from the commencement of 
his course, if at all, and to judge of this, for want of 
proper information, is difficult ; indeed I incline to 
think Mr. Wythe, under the present state of our 
laws, will be much embarrassed to deliver lectures 
with that perspicuity and precision which might be 
expected from him under a more established and set- 
tled state of them. The undertaking is arduous and 
the subject intricate at the best, but is rendered much 
more so from the circumstances of the country and 
the imperfect system now in use, inconsistent in some 
instances with the principles of the Constitution of the 
national government. Should the revision be passed 
the next session, it would, I think, lighten his labors 
and render them more useful to the student ; other- 
wise he will be obliged to pursue the science under 
the old form, pointing out in his course the inconsist- 
ency with the present established government and 
the proposed alterations. Whichever method he may 
like, or whatever plan he may lay down to govern 
him, I doubt not it will be executed with credit to 
himself and satisfaction and benefit to his auditors. 
The governor need not fear the favor of the commu- 
nity as to his future appointment, while he continues 
to make the common good his study. I have no in- 
timate acquaintance with 'Mi. Jefferson, but from the 



STUDENT AND SOLDIER 15 

knowledge I have of him, he is in my opinion as 
proper a man as can be put into the office, having 
the requisites of ability, firmness, and diligence. You 
do well to cultivate his friendship, and cannot fail to 
entertain a grateful sense of the favors he has con- 
ferred upon you, and while you continue to deserve 
his esteem he wiU not withdraw his countenance. If, 
therefore, upon conferring with him upon the subject 
he wishes or shows a desire that you go with him, I 
would gratify him. Should you remain to attend 
Mr. Wythe, I would do it with his approbation, and 
under the expectation that when you come to Rich- 
mond you shall hope for the continuance of his friend- 
ship and assistance. There is likelihood the cam- 
paign will this year be to the South, and in the course 
of it events may require the exertions of the militia of 
this State ; in which case, should a considerable body 
be called for, I hope Mr. Jefferson will head them 
himself ; and you no doubt will be ready cheerfully 
to give him your company and assistance, as well to 
make some return of civility to him as to satisfy your 
own feelings for the common good." 

No one will be surpi'ised to find that under 
such circumstances, and with such advice, the 
young aspirant attached himself to the gov- 
ernor. He writes to Lord Stirling, in the letter 
already quoted, " I submitted the direction of 
my time and plan to my friend Mr. Jefferson, 
one of our wisest and most virtuous republicans, 
and aided by his advice I have hitherto, of late. 



16 JAMES MONROE 

lived." In September, 1780, he writes to Jeffer- 
son a warm expression of gratitude. 

A variety of disappointments, he says, had 
perplexed his plan of life and exposed him to 
inconveniences which had nearly destroyed him. 
" In this situation you [Mr. Jefferson] became 
acquainted with me, and undertook the direction 
of my studies ; and, believe me, I feel that what- 
ever I am at present in the opinion of others, or 
whatever I may be in future, has greatly arisen 
from your friendship. My plan of life is now 
fixed." 

It is clear that his intimacy with Jefferson, 
the early stages of which are here described, was 
the key to Monroe's political career. On many 
subsequent occasions the support and counsel of 
the older statesman had a marked influence 
upon the life of the younger. Their friendship 
continued till it was broken by Jefferson's 
death. Fifty years after the incidents here nar- 
rated the teacher and the pupil, having both 
served in the office of president, were associated 
with a third ex-president, the life-long friend of 
both, in the control of the University of Vir- 
ginia, and repeatedly met in council at Char- 
lottesville. 



CHAPTER II 

LEGISLATOR AND GOVERNOR OP VIRGINIA 

Monroe was called into service as a legis- 
lator at a very early period of his life. If his 
public career had been restricted to the service 
of his native State, he would have been con- 
s^iicuous among the statesmen of Virginia. He 
was first a delegate to the Assembly from King 
George County, and a member of the executive 
council ; he went to the fourth, fifth, and sixth 
Congresses of the Confederation ; he was one of 
the commissioners appointed to revise the laws 
of Virginia ; for a second time he was returned 
to the Assembly ; he was a member of the con- 
vention in Virginia which adopted the United 
States Constitution ; he was a senator of the 
United States before his diplomatic service be- 
gan ; and after long interruptions, and the at- 
tainment of national eminence, his presence gave 
dignity to the convention which adopted the 
Constitution of 1830, though age and infirmities 
precluded an active participation in the proceed- 
ings. Eleven years of his early life were nearly 
all devoted to legislative work, but so far as this 



18 JAMES MONROE 

related to the affairs of Virginia I do not dis- 
cover any traces of noteworthy influence. A 
letter of his to Jefferson, in 1782, when the 
latter in an aggrieved mood was absenting him- 
self from the House of Delegates, has been 
printed, and the reply which it drew forth.^ 
The plainness of Monroe's words and the frank- 
ness of the reply which he received, indicate a 
continuance of the intimacy already referred to. 
It was likewise to Monroe that Jefferson wrote, 
three years later, from Paris, explaining why he 
did not publish his printed notes on Virginia : 
" I fear the terms in which I speak of slavery 
and of our Constitution will do more harm than 
good ; " and again, " I sincerely wish you may 
find it convenient to come here ; the pleasure of 
the trip will be less than you expect, but the 
utility greater. It will make you adore your 
own country, its soil, its climate, its equality, 
liberty, laws, people, and manners." 

On the other hand, as a delegate in Congress 
Monroe was conspicuous, and the record of his 
service is closely involved with those important 
discussions which revealed the imjaerfection of 
the Confederation. His term of service ex- 
tended from 1783 to 1786, and he attended the 
sessions which were held in Annapolis, — where 
he saw Washington resign his commission, — 

1 Jefferson's Works, i. 316. Randall's Jefferson, i. 413. 



LEGISLATOR AND GOVERNOR 19 

Trenton, and New York. During this period 
he corresponded intimately, sometimes using a 
cipher, with Joseph Jones, Richard Henry Lee, 
Madison, and Jefferson ; and a large part of his 
letters are still extant, with many of the an- 
swers. 

An interesting letter from Monroe to Lee 
states succinctly the problems which perplexed 
the national legislature, now that peace was 
secured. " There are before us," he writes, 
" some questions of the utmost consequence that 
can arise in the councils of any nation," and he 
enumerates the peace establishment ; the regula- 
tion of commerce ; the maintenance of troops for 
the protection of the frontiers ; the regulation 
of settlements in the country westward ; and the 
counteraction of the narrow commercial policy 
of European powers. The determination of a 
site " for the residence of Congress " likewise 
demanded serious consideration, and Monroe 
served upon a committee which visited George- 
town in May, 1784, and decided to report in 
favor of the Maryland side of the Potomac, the 
present site of the capital. 

As the powers of the Confederation were 
quite inadequate for the proper regulation of 
commerce. Congress, and thoughtful men who 
were not in Congress, were seriously engaged 
in searching for the remedy. Monroe took a 



20 JAMES MONROE 

prominent part in the discussions, and the note- 
worthy motion which he made upon the subject 
was referred to a special committee, who re- 
ported a recommendation, that the ninth of the 
articles of confederation be so altered as to 
secure to Congress the power to regulate com- 
merce, with the assent of nine States in Con- 
gress assembled.^ 

He favored a regulation that all imposts 
should be collected under the authority and 
accrue to the use of the State in which the 
same might be payable. The report embodying 
this proviso was read in Congress March 28, 
1785, and the copy of it preserved in the pub- 
lic archives has a few corrections in Monroe's 
handwriting. Many interesting papers are ex- 
tant which bear upon this question, — among 
them a letter from James McHenry to Wash- 
ington, and the latter's reply. The Virginia 
Assembly also engaged in the discussion of a 
series of propositions which tended in the same 
direction. Monroe's views can readily be traced 
in his letters to Jefferson and Madison during 
the session of Congress in the winter of 1784-85. 
On April 12 Monroe wrote to Jefferson, sending 

^ This subject has been carefully studied by Mr. Bancroft, 
and presented in his new volumes with so much fullness that 
I can only follow his guidance. See his Hist, of the U. S. 
Const, i. 192-196. Cf. Sparks, Washington, ix. 503-507. 



LEGISLATOR AND GOVERNOR 21 

him the committee's report, and saying that he 
thinks it best to postpone action on it for a 
time. " It hath been brought so far," he adds, 
" without a prejudice against it. If carried 
farther here, prejudices will take place." He 
thinks it better that the States should act sepa- 
rately upon the measure. A few weeks later he 
wrote again to Jefferson as follows : " The re- 
port upon the ninth article hath not been taken 
up ; the importance of the subject and the deep 
and radical change it will create in the bond of 
the Union, together with the conviction that 
something must be done, seems to create an 
aversion or rather a fear of acting on it." Then, 
as if he foresaw the coming concentration of 
powers in the general government, he expresses 
a belief that the proposed change, if adopted, 
will certainly form " the most permanent and 
powerful principle in the Confederation." ^ A 
month later (July 15) Jefferson was again told 
how the debate went forward. " In my opinion," 
says Monroe, " the reasons in favor of changing 
the ninth article are conclusive, but the opposi- 
tion is respectable in point of numbers as well 
as talents. What will be done is uncertain." 
To Madison he afterwards writes, summing up 

1 Bancroft, Hist, of the U. S. Const, i. 450-455. See the 
entire letter dated June 16, 1785, given with manj' others in 
The Writings of James Monroe, vol. i. New York, 1898. 



22 JAMES MONROE 

quite carefully the arguments on both sides. 
December came and Congress did not act. 
" The advocates for the measure will scarcely 
succeed," said Randolph to Washington, " so 
strong are the apprehensions in some minds of 
an abuse of the power." At the end of the 
month, Monroe, still sure of the necessity of 
committing to the United States the power of 
regulating trade, wrote once more to Madison. 
In February the prospect was no better. In 
May tliere was a gleam of light. The plan of 
a convention at Annapolis, which in March 
Monroe himself had not favored, had taken 
the subject from before Congress. " As it ori- 
ginated with our State," he writes, " we think 
it our duty to promote its object by all the 
means in our power. Of its success I must 
confess I have some hope. . . . Truth and 
sound state policy in every instance will urge 
the commission of the power to the United 
States." Thus it was that Congress by its 
own lack of power was led to the convention 
which formed the Constitution, and, in a far 
wiser manner than that originally suggested, 
provided for the regulation of trade. But in 
August Monroe was despondent. " Our affairs," 
he writes, " are daily falling into a worse situ- 
ation ; " there is a party, he says, ready to dis- 
member the confederacy and throw the States 



LEGISLATOR AND GOVERNOR 23 

eastward, of the Hudson into one government. 
He urjres Madison to use his utmost exertions 
in the convention to obtain good as well as to 
prevent mischief, and adds to his appeal this 
pregnant postscript : " I have always consid- 
ered the regulation of trade in the hands of 
the United States as necessary to preserve the 
Union ; without it, it will infallibly tumble to 
pieces ; but I earnestly wish the admission of a 
few additional States into the confederacy in 
the Southern scale." The question, it is well 
known, was finally settled in the convention 
at Philadelphia, when Delaware and South Car- 
olina voted with the North against Maryland, 
Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia.^ 

In March, 1784, Monroe, with Jefferson, 
Hardy, and A. Lee, delivered to Congi*ess a 
deed which ceded to the United States Virginia's 
claims to the Northwest Territory, and thence- 
forward the government of that region continued 
to be one of the subjects in which he took most 
interest. During the summer recess of Congress 
he made an extended tour of observation. To 
Jefferson, July 20, he wrote as follows : " The 
day after to-morrow I set out upon the route 
through the western country. I have changed 
the direction and shall commence for the west- 
ward upon the North River by Albany. I shall 

1 Bancroft, ii. 162. 



24 JAMES MONROE 

pass through the lakes, visit the posts, and come 
down to the Ohio and thence home." Thus he 
hopes " to acquire a better knowledge of the 
posts which we should occupy, the cause of the 
delay of the evacuation by British troops, the 
temper of the Indians toward us, — as well as 
of the soil, waters, and in general the natural 
view of the country." Upon his return he wrote 
to Governor Harrison, October 30, respecting 
unfriendly, if not hostile, manifestations which 
had been made in Canada; and to Madison, 
November 15, on the importance of garrisoning 
the western forts, about to be given up by the 
British. To Jefferson a confidential letter was 
sent especially bearing upon the relation of 
Canada to the United States.^ It was intended 
to throw light upon the provisions of a com- 
mercial treaty with England. 

Some months later, when a conference was to 
be held at the mouth of the Great Miami with 
the Shawnees, Monroe again went beyond the 
Alleghanies, as far as Fort Pitt, and began the 
descent of the Ohio, but abandoned the expedi- 
tion on account of the low state of the water, 
and returned to Richmond. These two jour- 
neys had a marked influence upon his action in 
Congress, as the careful narrative of Bancroft, 
already repeatedly cited, shows most clearly. 

^ See The Writings of James Monroe, vol. i. p. 41. 



LEGISLATOR AND GOVERNOR 25 

On the motion of Monroe a grand committee 
was appointed by Congress to consider the divi- 
sion of the western territory, and their report 
was presented March 24. A little later, another 
committee, of which Monroe was chairman, was 
appointed to consider and report a form of tem- 
porary government for the Western States. 
His report, which said nothing of slavery, failed 
of adoption. A year later a new committee 
prepared a new ordinance, which embodied the 
best parts of the work of their predecessors. I 
will give the rest of the story in Bancroft's 
language : — 

" The ordinance contained no allusion to slavery ; 
and in that form it received its first reading and was 
ordered to be printed. Grayson, then presiding offi- 
cer of Congress, had always opposed slavery. Two 
years before he had wished success to the attempt of 
King for its restriction ; and everything points to 
him as the immediate cause of the tranquil spirit of 
disinterested statesmanship which took possession of 
every Southern man in the assembly. Of the mem- 
bers of Virginia, Richard Henry Lee had stood 
against Jefferson on this very question ; but now he 
acted with Grayson, and from the States of which no 
man had yielded before, every one chose the part 
which was to bring on their memory the benedictions 
of all coming ages. Obeying an intimation from the 
South, Nathan Dane copied from Jefferson the pro- 
hibition of involuntary servitude in the territory, and 



26 JAMES MONROE 

quieted alarm by adding from the report o£ King 
a clause for the delivering up of the fugitive slave. 
This, at the second reading of the ordinance, he 
moved as a sixth article of compact, and on the 
thirteenth day of July, 1787, the great statute for- 
bidding slavery to cross the river Ohio viras passed 
by the vote of Georgia, South Carolina, North Caro- 
lina, Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, 
and Massachusetts, all the States that were then pre- 
sent in Congress. Pennsylvania and three States of 
New England were absent ; Maryland only of the 
South." 

At the next Assembly in Virginia, a commit- 
tee, of which Monroe was a member, " brought 
forward the bill by which Virginia confirmed 
the ordinance for the colonization of all the ter- 
ritory then in the possession of the United 
States by freemen alone." 

Among other subjects in which Monroe took 
a deep interest while a delegare in Congress, 
the navigation of the MississijDpi was prominent. 
The treaty with Great Britain had stipulated 
that this river from its source to its mouth 
should be open to the subjects of Great Britain 
and the citizens of the United States. Spain 
objected. Some parties were ready to surren- 
der this right, but among those who persistently 
refused to do so were the Virginia delegates, 
including Monroe, who wrote a memoir in 1786 



LEGISLATOR AND GOVERNOR 27 

to prove the right of the inhabitants of the 
western country to a free navigation of the 
Mississippi. Positive action was postponed 
until the new government was about to be or- 
ganized, and Congress then declared its opinion 
in clear and bold terms. It was due to the 
foresight and firmness of a few strong men that 
the claims of Spain were not acknowledged, 
and that the acquisition of the territory in- 
volved was finally completed after Monroe 
became president. 

Near the end of the year 1784, Monroe was 
selected as one of nine judges to decide the 
boundary dispute in which Massachusetts and 
New York were involved, and after some delib- 
eration he accepted the position, and was on the 
way to Williamsburg, when he received advices 
that the session of the court had been deferred ; 
the case being thus postponed, he resigned and 
another commissioner was chosen. There is the 
authority of Mr. Adams for saying that Monroe 
had been conspicuous above all others in pro- 
ceedings which concerned the navigation of the 
Mississippi, and had taken the lead in opposi- 
tion to Jay, who proposed a compromise with 
Spain ; and that it was in the heat of temper 
kindled by this discord that Monroe resigned 
his commission.^ 

1 J. Q. Adams, Eulogy, pp. 225-232. 



28 JAMES MONROE 

Of the convention which formed the Consti- 
tution of the United States, Monroe was not a 
member. Virginia was represented by Wash- 
ington, Madison, Patrick Henry, George Mason, 
George Wythe, and John Blair. The organiza- 
tion of the convention was made May 25, 1787, 
with Washington president, and the adjourn- 
ment took place September 17, 1787. Monroe 
was a doubtful observer of the progress of 
events. " My anxiety for the general welfare," 
he writes, "hath not been diminished. The 
affairs of the federal government are, I believe, 
in the utmost confusion. The convention . . . 
will either recover us from our present em- 
barrassments, or complete our ruin ; for I do 
suspect that if what they recommend should 
be rejected, this would be the case." This 
was written to Jefferson, July 27, 1787. He 
suspects the hostility toward himself of Ed- 
mund Randolph and Madison, members of the 
convention ; nevertheless, he thinks that he 
shall be " strongly impressed in favor of and 
inclined to vote for whatever they will recom- 
mend." 

In the Virginia convention of 1788, the 
party favoring the United States Constitution 
was led by Madison, Marshall, and Edmund 
Randolph. The leader of the opposition was 
Patrick Henry, and James Monroe stood by his 



LEGISLATOR AND GOVERNOR 29 

side in company with William Grayson and 
George Mason. Two of his speeches as re- 
ported in the Debates are worthy of mention 
here.^ In the first of them, delivered June 10, 
he made an elaborate historical argument in 
which the experience of the Amphictyonic coun- 
cil, the Achaean league, the Germanic system, 
the Swiss cantons and the New England con- 
federacy were successively referred to, — a 
theme which seems to have been the germ of 
a posthumous publication, to which reference 
will hereafter be made. He assumes the value 
of the Union, to which " the people from New 
Hampshire to Georgia, Rhode Island excepted, 
have uniformly shown attachment." Examin- 
ing the proposed Constitution, he claims that 
there are no adequate checks upon the exercise 
of power ; he foresees conflict between the na- 
tional and State authorities. As for the Presi- 
dent, he foresees that " when he is once elected 
he may be elected forever." 

In closing the speech he says that he regards 
the proposed government as dangerous, and cal- 
culated to secure neither the interests nor the 
rights of our countrymen. *' Under such an 
one I shall be averse to embark the best hopes 
of a free people. We have struggled long to 

^ Debates of the Convention of Virginia, 1788, reported by 
Dayid Robertson, p. 154. 



30 JAMES MONROE 

bring about this revolution by which we enjoy 
our present freedom and security. Why then 
this haste, this wild precipitation ? " 

At a later stage Monroe explained the Con- 
gressional disputes about the free navigation of 
the Mississippi, the purport of which was to 
show that the western country would be less 
secure under the Constitution than it was under 
the Confederation. He finally assented to a 
ratification of the Constitution by Virginia upon 
the condition that her amendments should be 
accepted. His chief objections were these : the 
power of direct taxation ; the absence of a bill 
of rights ; the lack of legislative and executive 
responsibility and the reeligibility of the Pre- 
sident. 

Many years later he thus, in a letter to An- 
drew Jackson, gave his recollections of the 
monarchical tendencies which were shown by 
his contemporaries before and after the adop- 
tion of the Constitution. He writes as fol- 
lows : — 

December, 1816. " We have heretofore been di- 
vided into two great parties. That some of the lead- 
ers of the Federal party entertained principles un- 
friendly to our system of government, I have been 
thoroughly convinced ; and that they meant to work 
a change in it by taking advantage of favorable cir- 
cumstances, I am equally satisfied. It happened that 



LEGISLATOR AND GOVERNOR 31 

I was a member of Congress under the Confedera- 
tion, just before the change made by the adoption 
of the present Constitution, and afterwards of the 
Senate, beginning shortly after its adoption. In the 
former I served thi'ee years, and in the latter rather 
a longer term. In these stations I saw indications 
of the kind suggested. It was an epoch at which the 
views of men were most likely to unfold themselves, 
as, if anything favorable to a higher toned govern- 
ment was to be obtained, that was the time. The 
movement in France tended also then to test the 
opinions and principles of men, which was disclosed 
in a manner to leave no doubt on my mind of what 
I have suggested. No daring attempt was ever 
made, because there was no opportunity for it. I 
thought that Washington was opposed to their 
schemes, and not being able to take him with them, 
that they were forced to work, in regard to him. 
under-handed, using his name and standing with the 
nation, as far as circumstances permitted, to serve 
their purposes. The opposition, which was carried 
on with great firmness, checked the career of this 
party, and kept it within moderate limits. Many of 
the circumstances, on which my opinion is founded, 
took place in debate and in society, and therefore 
find no place in any public document. I am satis- 
fied, however, that sufficient proof exists, founded 
on facts and opinions of distinguished individuals, 
which became public, to justify that [opinion] which 
I had formed. . . . 

" My candid opinion is that the dangerous purposes 



32 JAMES MONROE 

I have adverted to were never adopted, if they were 
known, especially in their full extent, by any large 
portion of the Federal party, but were confined to 
certain leaders, and they principally to the eastward. 
The manly and patriotic conduct of a great propor- 
tion of that party in the other States, I might per- 
haps say all who had an opportunity of displaying it, 
is a convincing proof of this fact." 

Jefferson, referring to the same period, spoke 
as follows in the introduction to his " Ana : " 
" The contests of that day were contests of prin- 
ciple between the advocates of republican and 
those of kingly government." 

A familiar letter to Jefferson written July 12, 
1788, gives an inside view of the discussions in 
the Virginia convention. Before it met, Monroe 
endeavored to maintain a non-committal atti- 
tude. He prepared, however, a few days before 
the convention, a communication to his consti- 
tuents ; but the printing of this letter was de- 
layed so long and was so incorrectly made and 
" the whole performance was so loosely drawn," 
that the author thought best to suppress it. He 
inclosed a copy to Jefferson. What appears to 
be Monroe's own copy has lately been discovered 
in the archives of the State Department, and 
given to the press.^ Its significance is however 
less important than that of the " Observations 

^ Writings of James Monroe, vol. i. pp. 307, 349. 



LEGISLATOR AND GOVERNOR 33 

on the Federal Government," attributed to Mon- 
roe. A copy of this pamphlet (excessively rare, 
if not unique, and hitherto unnoticed by any 
bibliographer) has been found among the Madi- 
son papers in the Department of State, and 
reprinted in the first volume of Monroe's writ- 
ings. 

Notwithstanding Monroe's opposition to the 
adoption of the new Constitution, he was among 
the earliest to take office under it. The first 
choice of Virginia for senators fell on Richard 
Henry Lee and William Grayson. The latter 
died soon after his appointment, and Monroe 
was selected by the legislature to fill the va- 
cant place, instead of John Walker, who had 
been named by the Executive of the State. He 
took his seat in the Senate December 6, 1790, 
and held the position until May, 1794. Jeffer- 
son was in Philadelphia, as secretary of state, 
during the early part of Monroe's senatorial 
career, so that letters to him are wanting, but in 
1793-94 Monroe again writes him confidentially 
on the progress of affairs, and particularly on 
the strained relations of the United States with 
England and France. It does not appear that 
he was conspicuous as a debater ; but he made 
himself felt in other ways, and was regarded 
as among the most decided opponents of Wash- 
ington's administration. He was particularly 



34 JAMES MONROE 

hostile to Hamilton, and on one occasion, when 
the latter was talked about as likely to be sent 
to England, transgressed the limits of senatorial 
courtesy by addressing a letter to the Presi- 
dent with intimations of what he could say if 
an opportunity were afforded him. He was 
opposed to the measures which were carried 
for establishing on a sound basis the national 
finances. He proposed a suspension of the 
fourth article of the definitive treaty with Great 
Britain until that power complied with her stipu- 
lations. He strongly objected to the selection 
of Morris and Jay as ministers respectively to 
France and England. Indeed, during all this 
period he appears in the part of an obstruction- 
ist, who doubted the wisdom of the dominant 
views in respect to the new order of government, 
and who did not hesitate to put obstacles in the 
way of those who were endeavoring to give 
dignity and force to the new United States. 
He was therefore surprised, and so were many 
others, that he was selected, while still a senator, 
to be the successor of Gouverneur Morris as 
minister to France. He had objected to Jay's 
appointment partly on the ground that such an 
office should not be given to one of the federal 
judiciary, and the wiseacres were not slow to 
taunt him for accepting, in place of his senatorial 
rank, the dignity of a diplomatic station. The 



LEGISLATOR AND GOVERNOR 35 

rest of this story will be told in the following 
chapter. 

Although it is not next in order, it is con- 
venient to place here the little which is to be 
said of the executive station to which Monroe, 
on his return from diplomatic services, was twice 
called in his native State. He was first chosen 
governor of Virginia in 1799, after his recall 
from France, and served for a period of three 
years. He was again chosen in 1811, held the 
office for part of a year, and gave it up in order 
to enter the cabinet of Madison. His first elec- 
tion was opposed by John Breckenridge, who 
received QQ votes, while Monroe received 101. 
The Richmond " Federalist " of December 7 de- 
clared the day before to be " a day of mourn- 
ing." Virginia's " misfortunes may be com- 
prised in one short sentence : Monroe is elected 
governor ! " 

During his first administration a conspiracy 
among the slaves was brought to light, and was 
suppressed by his power as governor. The in- 
cident has recently been called to mind by a 
widely read novel, in which there is a graphic 
picture of a servile insurrection and its timely 
discovery.^ Howison's story is as follows.^ Not 
far from Richmond dwelt Thomas Prosser, who 

^ Homoselle, by Mrs. Tieman. 

2 Howison, History of Virginia, p. 390. 



36 JAMES MONROE 

owned a number of slaves, among them one who 
became known as " General Gabriel," a man 
"distinguished for his intelligence and his in- 
fluence with his class." Near by lived another 
slave called " Jack Bowler." By their agency 
nearly a thousand slaves, it was supposed, were 
secretly enlisted in a plot to attack Richmond 
by night and there begin a war of extermination 
against the whites. Just before the proposed 
assault a slave named " Pharaoh " escaped from 
the conspirators during a storm and revealed 
the project to the people of Richmond. The 
tidings were carried to Governor Monroe, the 
alarm was given, the militia called out, and 
preparations were made to meet the assailants. 
The streams were so swollen by the fall of rain 
that the movements of the insurgents were de- 
layed, and they soon perceived that their secret 
had been discovered. The ringleaders were sub- 
sequently found and punished ; and so many 
others were inculpated that a reaction took 
place in public feeling, and a merciful arrest of 
justice occurred before all the guilty had been 
reached. 

For several years, after 1806, John Randolph 
was a frequent correspondent of Monroe. He 
urges him to come back from England ; he 
guards him against compromitment to men in 
whom he cannot wholly confide ; he gives him a 



LEGISLATOR AND GOVERNOR 37 

dark hint of "the stage effect" he will be made 
to produce ; he flatters him with expectations of 
the next nomination to the presidency ; he dis- 
parages Madison ; he says that Monroe will 
hardly know the country when he arrives ; " in- 
trigue has arrived at a pitch which I hardly sup- 
posed it would have reached in five centuries ; " 
" life has afforded me few enjoyments which 
I value in comparison with your friendship." 
These flattering words, tempered with insinua- 
tions against Madison, were addressed to Mon- 
roe in the belief and wish that he could be 
brought forward as a candidate for the presi- 
dency at the close of Jefferson's term. Ran- 
dolph's purpose failed, Madison became presi- 
dent and Monroe governor, after brief service 
in the Assembly. A little later Randolph 
quarreled with Monroe, because, as he thought, 
the latter was inclined to repudiate the views he 
had held on his return from England. He 
charged him with tergiversation in order to be- 
come chief magistrate of the Commonwealth. 
The climax of their disagreement was reached 
when Monroe was called to the cabinet of Mad- 
ison. 

Many years later, in 1814, Randolph, still 
quarrelsome, attacked Monroe's conscription pro- 
ject by pointing out the course of the latter in 
respect to federal usurpation when he was gover- 



38 JAMES MONROE 

nor, charging upon him the fact that the grand 
armory at Richmond was built to enable Vir- 
ginia to resist encroachment upon her indispu- 
table rights.^ 

1 For all this story, in detail, and many original letters, see 
the Life of John Randolph by Henry Adams, in a volume of 
this Series. 



CHAPTER III 

ENVOY IN FRANCE 

Monroe's career as a diplomatist exhibits first 
the misfortune and then the good fortune which 
may attend ministerial action in a foreign land, 
when long periods must elapse before letters can 
be interchanged with the government at home. 
In critical junctures responsibility must be as- 
sumed by the representative of a nation, who 
runs the risk that his words and actions, however 
wise and necessary they appear to him, will not 
be approved by those who sent him abroad. In 
quiet days a foreign embassy is an enviable po- 
sition, but Monroe was neither the first envoy 
nor the last who has found in troublesome times 
that it is difficult to act with a near-sighted view 
of the field so as to keep the support of those 
who are far-sighted. His first mission to France 
began brilliantly, but ended with an irritation 
of his spirit which he carried with him, like the 
bullet received at Trenton, to the very end of 
his life ; his second mission to France, under- 
taken with some distrust, led to a fortunate 



40 JAMES MONROE 

negotiation which brightened all his subseqiient 
days. 

While a senator in Congress, Monroe was se- 
lected, as we have seen, to represent the United 
States in Paris, after it became necessary for 
Gouverneur Morris to give way. Washington's 
first choice for the position was Thomas Pinck- 
ney, whom he would have transferred from Eng- 
land to France, if Jay would consent to remain 
as minister in England after concluding a treaty. 
As this arrangement could not be effected, the 
appointment was offered to Robert R. Livings- 
ton, who did not accept it. Madison had already 
declined. Aaron Burr was a competitor. A 
few weeks later, on May 28, 1794, Monroe was 
commissioned. The appointment took him by 
surprise, as he told Mr. Randolph, the secretary 
of state ; " I really thought I was among the 
last men to whom the proposition would be 
made," were his words. Randolph replied that 
the President was resolved to send a Republican 
to France ; that Livingston and Madison had 
refused, and that Burr would not be appointed. 
If Monroe declined, the post would probably be 
offered to Governor Price of Maryland, or to 
some person not yet thought of. Monroe's atti- 
tude toward the administration was of course 
perfectly well known, but it was thought that his 
admiration for the French and his sympathy 



ENVOY IN FRANCE 41 

with the Revolution might secure for him a 
favorable reception. Washington's position was 
one of extreme responsibility. There was danger 
that the United States, scarcely beginning to re- 
cover from the Revolutionary struggle, and with 
the experiment of the Constitution not yet five 
years old, would be involved in war with France 
or England in consequence of their unjustifiable 
reprisals and their attitude in respect to the com- 
merce of neutrals. It was most important for 
the safety of the Union as well as for the pro- 
sperity of the people that hostilities should be 
avoided, and much appeared to depend upon the 
envoys. So Jay was sent to England and Mon- 
roe to France, each of whom was supposed to be 
acceptable to the country to which he was ap- 
pointed. 

Looking back on these appointments, nearly 
forty years afterwards, John Quincy Adams de- 
clared them to be among the most memorable 
events in the history of this Union. To under- 
stand this in our day, we must remember the 
bitter relations, "tinged with infusions of the 
wormwood and the gall," which then divided 
France and England ; and the partisan feelings 
which already separated Republicans from Fed- 
eralists. 

The state of feeling in Congress prior to Mon- 
roe's mission is familiar enough to all historical 



42 JAMES MONROE 

readers ; but I have before me a long file of let- 
ters which have never been made public, exhibit- 
ing in the intimacy of fraternal correspondence 
the current of opinion in Congress ; — and I 
make from them the following extracts to give 
a fresh and original record of a tale which has 
often been told : ^ — 

January, 1794. " I think we are in no danger of 
being drawn into the European war, unless the French 
should be mad enough to declare war against every- 
body that will not fraternize with them." 

January, 1794. " It may, I believe, fairly be pre- 
sumed that we shall not get into a wrangle with the 
French nation." 

January 25, 1794. " "We have announced to us in 
a letter from the President this day, that he has from 
the French Court assurances that M. Genet's conduct 
here has met with unequivocal disapprobation, and 
that his recall will be expected as soon as possible. 
I give it you nearly in the words of his letter. Why 
he has not before made the communication, as it ar- 
rived by the Dispatch (a sloop of about thirty tons) 
last week ; whether he has letters from the French 
ministry or only from Mr. Morris, — I am without 
information." 

January 31, 1794. "A strange portion [sic] of 
French frenzy is working in this country. We see 

•^ These extracts are from letters by Joshua Coit of New 
London, Conn., a representative in Congress, to his brothei^ 
Daniel L. Coit. 



ENVOY IN FRANCE 43 

much of it in Congress, principally among the South- 
ern members. It enters, as you will see, into the 
debates on Mr. Madison's propositions. I have men- 
tioned it to you, I believe, in a former letter. One 
would have expected from these owners of slaves 
and men of large fortunes a difEerent complexion ; 
but our rankest democratical principle is all from the 
South, and they consider us New England men as aris- 
tocrats. I feel more apprehension of the general gov- 
ernment being too weak than that it will gather a 
strength dangerous to the liberties of the people. I 
would hope, however, that no more of party is mixed 
in our composition than may be wholesome. Mr. 
M.'s resolutions have now been under discussion for 
about a fortnight. Gentlemen take an amazing lati- 
tude in their discussions, and from the debates one 
would be led to suppose we were forming commercial 
treaties that were to embrace all the interests of the 
United States. The first resolution is a mighty 
vague, general thing, and will apply to any alteration 
of our revenue system almost ; perhaps this may be 
carried, but I think the others, or anything like them, 
cannot ; they have engrossed all the time of Congress 
for this fortnight past." 

February 15, 1794. " The fact is, I think, every 
day more and more evinced, that some of our South- 
ern gentlemen, Virginians especially, have a most 
unconquerable aversion for the British nation, and 
partiality for France. The debts due from that 
country to G. B. may have their effect in fomenting 
and keeping up their animosity, and they seem to wish 



44 JAMES MONROE 

to fix some immovable obstructions to a friendly in- 
tercourse between the two countries, and there is but 
too much reason to fear that the measures they pur- 
sue are in good degree influenced by their dissatis- 
faction at some steps that have been taken since the 
establishment of the present government, — the fund- 
ing system and bank especially. They profess peace 
— that energetic measures are those only by which it 
can be preserved. Britain is to be so afflicted with 
our non-importation agreement that, to persuade us to 
give it up, she is to do everything which we may de- 
mand of her ; and if, on the contrary, she is disposed 
to fight, she is exhausted and weakened by the war 
in which she is now engaged, and with the help of 
France we shall give her the worst of it. I stiU 
hope peace ; but if this measure is carried through, 
I shall then despair." 

March 7, 1794. " The measures you mention are 
regarded as very extraordinary ; equally so is that of 
the French detaining our ships in their ports. 'Tis 
perhaps fortunate for us that we are ill-treated by 
both the belligerent powers ; experiencing no favor 
from either, we shall be less an object of jealousy 
from either, and probably less in danger of rushing 
into the war than if we were iU-treated by one only. 
I believe we had better suffer almost anything than 
get into the war. Time and patience will, I hope, 
cure all." 

March 13, 1794. " It seems to me the British na- 
tion must contemplate some inconvenience in the loss 
of our trade in case of a rupture, and that the fair and 



ENVOY IN FRANCE 45 

honorable neutrality we have preferred should com- 
mand their respect. But they apprehend we feel a 
partiality for the French, and nations at war very 
readily regard as enemies those who are not their 
friends, and they very naturally contemplate the 
going to war with another nation with much less 
reluctance than changing from peace to war. No 
measures will be taken hastily on the subject by us, I 
believe. The infancy of our government, and our reve- 
nue depending almost altogether on foreign commerce, 
which would by a war be greatly deranged if not cut 
off, make the evils to be apprehended by us in this 
event peculiarly serious. But if they will fight with 
us, we must do the best we can." 

March 24, 1794. " The minds of people are so 
much agitated, and resentments are so warm, that 
there is reason to fear that we shall be hurried into 
the torrent that is ravaging Europe." 

March 25, 1794. " If the embargo gets through, I 
shall be almost inclined to think the Rubicon is passed 
and that war is inevitable. Not so much that the 
British will regard it as a hostile measure, but that 
it will tend to sharpen the minds of people, and pre- 
cipitate us, from the heat of our passions, into the 
war." 

March 27, 1794. " If we must enter into a war, I 
should feel very unhappy to enter it under the au- 
spices of an act which would appear to me a compli- 
cation of villainy and bad policy." 

March 28, 1794. " We have a mad proposition 
before the House, brought in yesterday, for seques- 



46 JAMES MONROE 

tering British debts to form a fund for compensation 
to the sufferers by British spoliations. I feared it 
would pass, but the fever of the mind seems to be 
cooling a little, and I begin to hope for better things." 

April 8, 1794. " I am still persuaded that the 
threatening appearances will blow over and leave us 
at peace, in spite of the unaccountable proceedings 
of the British in the West Indies. I do not believe 
they mean to go to war with us." 

April 13, 1794. "A minister to the Court of 
London is still talked of, but this is not determined 
on, and these people appear to be very anxious to 
have something done which, as they say, shall give 
weight to negotiation ; but their views and professions 
are apprehended to be widely different, and that in- 
stead of wishing to give effect, they would prefer 
doing something that should impede the negotiation. 
The President, with whom alone lies the power, is 
very cautious ; perhaps fortunately so for the country, 
as well as for his own reputation, but unluckily, (as it 
is more with the Legislature to lay the grounds by 
which negotiation might be facilitated or impeded, 
and to determine the popularity of the measure,) I 
suspect he hesitates and waits to see how the discus- 
sion in our House will issue. Had he already sent a 
negotiator, it would have furnished an argument for 
our leaving things as they were when the negotiator 
left the country." 

April 16, 1794. " Mr. Jay is nominated. There 
is not perhaps a man in the United States whose 
character as a negotiator stands on higher ground. 



ENVOY IN FRANCE 47 

The appointment marks a disposition in the Presi- 
dent to come forward before mischief is done, and to 
try the ground of negotiation fairly with G. Britain, 
before any obstruction is thrown in the way by our 
confiscating British debts, or passing a non-impor- 
tation act." 

April 19, 1794. " The embargo is again on, to 
last till the 25th of May in the same way as before ; 
passed House of Representatives day before yesterday, 
and in Senate yesterday. I had not expected it." 

April 22, 1794. " It is a doubt with many whether 
our present form of government continue many years. 
The jealousies which exist in the Southern States 
respecting the funding system and most of the mea- 
sures of consequence which have been adopted, added 
to some strange and fantastical notions about liberty 
which they entertain, approaching nearly to French 
extravagance of liberty and equality absolute, render 
the continuance of our Union for many years, even 
of peace, doubtful. But should a war take place, I 
think we have scarcely ground to hope a continuance 
of the Union." 

April 24, 1794. " We have perhaps as much to 
fear from the fever of French politics taking too 
strong a hold of the minds of the people of this 
country as from any other source." 

There is an interruption in the file of letters 
from which these extracts are taken, and I find 
in them no mention of the envoy to France, 
whose commission came a month later. 



48 JAMES MONROE 

Monroe's instructions, as given to him by 
Randolph, were very minute, and contained the 
following pregnant sentences as the conclusion : 

"To conclude. You go, sir, to France, to 
strengthen our friendship with that country ; and 
you are well acquainted with the line of freedom and 
ease to which you may advance without betraying the 
dignity of the United States. You will show our 
confidence in the French Republic without betraying 
the most remote mark of undue complaisance. You 
will let it be seen that, in case of war with any na- 
tion on earth, we shall consider France as our first 
and natiiral ally. You may dwell upon the sense 
which we entertain of past services, and for the more 
recent interposition in our behalf with the Dey of Al- 
giers. Among the great events with which the world 
is now teeming, there may be an opening for France 
to become instrumental in securing to us the free 
navigation of the Mississippi. Spain may, perhaps, 
negotiate a peace, separate froin Great Britain, 
with France. If she does, the Mississippi may be 
acquired through this channel, especially if you con- 
trive to have our mediation in any manner solicited." 

Monroe arrived in Paris just after the fall of 
Robespierre. Notwithstanding his outspoken 
good will for the popular cause, the Committee 
of Public Safety hesitated to receive him. His 
proceedings in consequence were full of romance. 
Not another civilized nation upon earth, says 
Mr. Adams, had a recognized representative in 



ENVOY IN FRANCE 49 

France at that time. " I waited," says Monroe, 
" eight or ten days without progressing an iota, 
and as I had heard that a minister from Geneva 
had been here about six weeks before me, and 
had not been received, I was fearful I might re- 
main as long, and, perhaps, much longer, in the 
same situation." He therefore addressed a let- 
ter to the president of the Convention, " not 
knowing the competent department nor the 
forms established by law for my reception." 
A decree was passed at once that the minister 
of the United States " be introduced into the 
bosom of the Convention to-morrow at two 
p. M." Accordingly he appeared before the 
Convention, August 15, 1794, and presented an 
address in English, with a translation of it into 
French, which latter was read by a secretary, 
together with two letters from Edmund Ran- 
dolph, secretary of state, acknowledging the 
letter received by Congress from the Committee 
of Public Safety. 

Monroe's address was as follows : — 

" Citizens, President, and Representatives of the 
French People, — My admission into this assembly, 
in presence of the French nation (for all the citizens 
of France are represented here) to be recognized 
as the representative of the American Republic, 
impresses me with a degree of sensibility which I 
cannot express. I consider it a new proof of that 



50 JAMES MONROE 

friendship and regard which the French nation has 
always shown to their ally, the United States of 
America. 

" Republics should approach near to each other. 
In many respects they have all the same interest ; 
but this is more especially the case with the Amer- 
ican and French republics. Their governments are 
similar ; they both cherish the same principles, and 
rest on the same basis, the equal and unalienable 
rights of man. The recollection, too, of common dan- 
gers and difficulties will increase their harmony and 
cement their union. America had her day of oppres- 
sion, difficulty, and war ; but her sons were virtuous 
and brave, and the storm which long clouded her po- 
litical horizon has passed, and left them in the enjoy- 
ment of peace, liberty, and independence. France, 
our ally and our friend, and who aided in the contest, 
has now embarked in the same noble career ; and I 
am happy to add, that whilst the fortitude, magna- 
nimity, and heroic valor of her troops command the 
admiration and applause of the astonished world, the 
wisdom and firmness of her councils unite equally in 
securing the happiest result. 

" America is not an unfeeling spectator of your 
affairs at the present crisis. I lay before you, in the 
declarations of every department of our government, 
— declarations which are founded in the affections 
of the citizens at large, — the most decided proof of 
her sincere attachment to the liberty, prosperity, and 
happiness of the French Republic. Each branch of 
the Congress, according to the course of proceeding 



ENVOY IN FRANCE 51 

there, has requested the President to make this known 
to you in its behalf ; and, in fulfilling the desires of 
those branches, I am instructed to declare to you that 
he has expressed his own. 

" In discharging the duties of the office which I 
am now called to execute, I promise myself the 
highest satisfaction, because I well know that, whilst 
I pursue the dictates of my own heart in wishing the 
liberty and happiness of the French nation, and which 
I most sincerely do, I speak the sentiments of my 
own country ; and that, by doing everything in my 
power to preserve and perpetuate the harmony so 
happily subsisting between the two republics, I shall 
promote the interest of both. To this great object, 
therefore, aU my efforts wiU be directed. If I can 
be so fortunate as to succeed in such manner as to 
merit the approbation of both republics, I shall deem 
it the happiest event of my life, and retire hereafter 
with a consolation which those who mean well, and 
have served the cause of liberty, alone can feel." 

A comparison of this speech with Randolph's 
injunctions, already quoted, will show how far 
Monroe was carried by the enthusiasm of his 
youth and the unparalleled circumstances in 
which he was placed. That speech of ten 
minutes, received with applause and afterwards 
printed by order of " the Convention, in the two 
languages, French and American," was the oc- 
casion of many a pang to the orator, in bis after 
life. 



52 JAMES MONROE 

The account of Monroe's reception may read- 
ily be found in the American State Papers,^ 
but a document, hitherto hidden, was lately 
brought to light by Mr. Washburne, the Amer- 
ican minister, who looked up, in the national 
archives of France, the proces verbal on the 
day referred to, August 15, 1794. Here is the 
interesting extract which he sent to Mr. Fish 
" to fill the gap " in the diplomatic records of 
that period.^ 

Extract from the "proces verbal^' of the National Con- 
vention of August 15, 1794. — Translation. 

The Citizen James Monroe, Minister Plenipoten- 
tiary of the United States of America near the 
French Republic, is admitted In the hall of the sit- 
ting of the National Convention. He takes his place 
in the midst of the representatives of the people, 
and remits to the President with his letters of cre- 
dence, a translation of a discourse addressed to the 
National Convention ; It Is read by one of the secre- 
taries. The expressions of fraternity, of union be- 
tween the two people, and the Interest which the 
people of the United States take in the success of the 
French Republic, are heard with the liveliest sensi- 
bility and covered with applause. 

Reading Is also given to the letters of credence of 

1 Vol. i. p. 672. 

2 Foreign Relations of the U. S. 1876. Mr. Washburne to 
Mr. Fish, Paris, October 23, 1876. 



ENVOY IN FRANCE 53 

Citizen Monroe, as well as to those written by the 
American Congress and by its President, to the Na- 
tional Convention and to the Committee of Public 
Safety. 

In witness of the fraternity which unites the two 
peoples, French and American, the President ^ gives 
the accolade (fraternal embrace) to Citizen Monroe. 

Afterward, upon the proposition of many members, 
the National Convention passes with unanimity the 
following decree : — 

Article I. The reading and verification being had 
of the powers of Citizen James Monroe, he is recognized 
and proclaimed minister plenipotentiary of the United 
States of America near the French Republic. 

Article II. The letters of credence of Citizen James 
Monroe, minister plenipotentiary of the United States of 
America, those which he has remitted on the part of the 
American Congress and its President, addressed to the 
National Convention and to the Committee of Public 
Safety, the discourse of Citizen Monroe, the response of 
the President of the Convention, shall be printed in the 
two languages, French and American, and inserted in the 
bulletin of correspondence. 

Article III. The flags of the United States of 
America shall be joined to those of France, and displayed 
in the hall of the sittings of the Convention, in sign of 
the union and eternal fraternity of the two people. 

Mr. Washburne calls attention to the phrase, 
" the two languages, French and American," as 
illustrating the hatred of the English ; and he 

^ Merlin de Douai. 



64 JAMES MONROE 

gives to Secretary Fish the following amusing 
interpretation of the accolade^ based upon his 
own experience in the new republic. 

" For many days," he says, " after I had, by your 
instructions, recognized the repubUc, which was pro- 
claimed on the 4th of September, 1870, regiment 
after regiment of the national guard marched to the 
legation to make known to our government, through 
me, their profound appreciation of its prompt action 
in recognizing the government of the national defense. 
Forming on the corner of the rue de Chaillot and 
the avenue Josephine, they would send up cheers 
and cries of ' Vive la R^publique,' till I would ap- 
pear on the balcony to make my acknowledgments. 
Then some officers of the regiment would be deputed 
to call upon me in the chambers of the legation, to 
tender me their personal thanks for my agency in the 
matter of recognition of their new government, and 
to give me the fraternal embrace (' accolade '), which 
was carried out in letter and spirit, and sometimes 
much to the amusement of the numerous visitors who 
were present on the occasion." 

A short time after his reception Monroe pre- 
sented an American flag to the Convention, 
intrusting its carriage to Captain, afterwards 
Commodore, Barney, an officer of the United 
States Navy, with whom Monroe had crossed 
the Atlantic. Captain Barney made a brief 
speech on the occasion in the presence of the 
Convention, received an accolade from the Presi- 



ENVOY IN FRANCE 55 

dent, and was complimented with a proposal to 
enter the naval service of France. When the 
body of Rousseau was deposited in the Pan- 
theon, this flag, borne by young Barney and 
a nephew of Monroe, preceded the column of 
Americans. The American minister and his 
suite, we are told, were the only persons per- 
mitted to enter the Pantheon with the National 
Convention to witness the conclusion of the 
ceremony. 

Several months later, March 6, 1795, Monroe 
makes this casual mention of the flag in his 
dispatch : — 

" I had forgotten to notify you officially the present 
I had made to the Convention of our flag. It was 
done in consequence of the order of that body for its 
suspension in its hall, and an intimation from the 
President himself that they had none, and were igno- 
rant of the model." 

Near the close of his life Monroe said that 
when he first arrived in France his situation 
was the most difficult and painful he had ever 
experienced. War with the United States was 
seriously menaced. He tells us that he could 
make no impression on the Committee of Public 
Safety, and so he determined to appeal to the 
real government, the People, through the nom- 
inal one, the Convention, and thus fairly bring 



56 JAMES MONROE 

the cause before the nation. He knew that their 
object was liberty, and that many French citizens 
had brought home from America the spirit of 
our struggle and infused it among their country- 
men. At the head of our government stood 
one who was rightly held in the highest venera- 
tion by the French people ; and he felt sure 
that if he brought before them convincing proofs 
of Washington's good wishes for their success, 
supported by that of the other branches of our 
government, the hostile spirit of the French gov- 
ernment would be subdued and his official re- 
cognition would follow. On this principle he 
spoke to the Convention with the desired effect. 
As this address was the subject of severe animad- 
versions at home, and as he was charged with 
going beyond his instructions, the following ex- 
tract from a long letter to Judge Jones, April 
4, 1794, 1 may be taken as evidence that the 
envoy acted according to his understanding of 
the instructions he had received. 

" I inclose you a copy of my address, etc., to the 
Convention upon my introduction, and of the Presi- 
dent's reply. I thought it my duty to lay those 
papers before the Convention as the basis of my 
mission, containing the declaration of every depart- 
ment in favor of the French revokition, or imply- 
ing it strongly. My address, you will observe, goes 
no farther than the declarations of both houses." 
^ Qouverneur MSS. 



ENVOY IN FRANCE 57 

Flattered by his reception in the Convention, 
Monroe was destined to a profound disappoint- 
ment when he received a dispatch from home, 
written by Randolph " in the frankness of friend- 
ship," criticising severely the course he had 
pursued. 

" When you left us," said the secretary of state, 
" we all supposed that your reception as the minis- 
ter of the United States would take place in the 
private chamber of some committee. Your letter of 
credence contained the degree of profession which 
the government was desirous of making ; and though 
the language of it would not have been cooled, even 
if its subsequent publicity had been foreseen, still 
it was natural to expect that the remarks with which 
you might accompany its delivery would be merely 
oral, and therefore not exposed to the rancorous 
criticism of nations at war with France. 

" It seems that, upon your arrival, the downfall of 
Robespierre and the suspension of the usual routine 
of business, combined, perhaps, with an anxiety to de- 
monstrate an affection for the United States, had shut 
up for a time the diplomatic cabinet, and rendered 
the hall of the National Convention the theatre of 
diplomatic civilities. We should have supposed that 
an introduction there would have brought to mind 
these ideas : ' The United States are neutral ; the 
allied Powers jealous ; with England we are now in 
treaty ; by England we have been impeached for 
breaches of faith in favor of France ; our citizens are 



68 JAMES MONROE 

notoriously Gallican In their hearts ; it will be wise 
to hazard as little as possible on the score of good 
humor ; and, therefore, in the disclosure of my feel- 
ings, something is due to the possibility of fostering 
new suspicions.' Under the influence of these senti- 
ments, we should have hoped that your address to 
the National Convention would have been so framed 
as to leave heart-burning nowhere. If private affec- 
tion and opinions had been the only points to be 
consulted, it would have been immaterial where or 
how they were delivered. But the range of a public 
minister's mind wiU go to all the relations of our 
country with the whole world. We do not perceive 
that your instructions have imposed upon you the 
extreme glow of some parts of your address ; and 
my letter in behalf of the House of Representa- 
tives, which has been considered by some gentle- 
men as too strong, was not to be viewed in any other 
light than as executing the task assigned by that 
body. 

" After these remarks, which are never to be inter- 
preted into any dereliction of the French cause, I 
must observe to you that they are made principally 
to recommend caution, lest we should be obliged at 
some time or other to explain away or disavow an 
excess of fervor, so as to reduce it down to the cool 
system of neutrality. You have it still in charge to 
cultivate the French Republic with zeal, but without 
any unnecessary eclat ; because the dictates of sin- 
cerity do not demand that we should render notorious 
all our feelings in favor of that nation." 



ENVOY IN FRANCE 59 

A little later Randolph took a more concili- 
atory tone, and Monroe believed that he would 
never have spoken so severely if all the dis- 
patches had reached him in due order. 

Early in his residence the American minister 
was involved in a discussion with respect to 
Mr. Morris's passports, of so delicate a charac- 
ter that the story was privately communicated 
by Monroe to Washington.^ This letter illus- 
trates the delays of correspondence, for it is 
dated November 18, and acknowledges Wash- 
ington's of June 25, " which would have been 
answered sooner if any safe opportunity had 
offered for Bordeaux, from whence vessels most 
frequently sail for America." Such delays had 
a significant bearing upon the continuous mis- 
understandings between the administration and 
its distant representative.^ Monroe was also 
engaged in a complex correspondence with re- 
ference to the release of Lafayette from im- 
prisonment at Olmiitz, and concerning pecu- 
niary assistance to Madame Lafayette, in whose 
release he was instrumental. In the " House- 
hold Life of the Lafayettes," by Edith Sichel, 

^ Gouvemeur MSS. 

■^ On February 15, 1795, the secretary of state acknow- 
ledges Monroe's last date, September 15, 1794, which had been 
received November 27. Monroe's dispatches of August 11 
and 25 were received between December 2 and 5. 



60 JAMES MONROE 

the particulars respecting the imprisonment of 
these noble people are given. Many of our ves- 
sels had been seized and condemned with their 
cargoes, and hundreds of our citizens were then 
in Paris and the seaports of France, many of 
them imprisoned, and all treated like enemies. 
This involved the American minister in weighty 
responsibilities, and employed his utmost energy. 
His effort to secure the release of Thomas Paine 
from imprisonment was another noteworthy trans- 
action, to which frequent reference was made 
in subsequent days, both by friends and oppo- 
nents. " Mr. Paine," he wrote, September 15, 
1795, " has lived in my house for about ten 
months past. He was, upon my arrival, confined 
in the Luxembourg, and released on my ap- 
plication ; after which, being sick, he has re- 
mained with me. . . . The symptoms have be- 
come worse, and the prospect now is that he 
will not be able to hold out more than a month 
or two at the farthest. I shall certainly pay 
the utmost attention to this gentleman, as he is 
one of those whose merits in our Revolution 
were most distinguished," 

It was not long before Monroe became entan- 
gled in a much more serious complication. A 
treaty with Great Britain had been negotiated 
by Jay ; so much as this was positively known 
in Paris near the close of 1794, and more was 



ENVOY IN FRANCE 61 

inferred in respect to it. Citizen Merlin de 
Douai, the one who gave Monroe the accolade 
a few months before, and four of his associates 
in the Committee of Public Safety demanded a 
copy of the treaty. This was their letter, De- 
cember 27, 1794 : — 

" We are informed, Citizen, that there was lately 
concluded at London a treaty of alliance and com- 
merce between the British government and Citizen 
Jay, Envoy Extraordinary of the United States. 

" A vague report spreads itself abroad that in this 
treaty the Citizen Jay has forgotten those things 
which our treaties with the American people, and 
the sacrifices which the French people made to ren- 
der them free, gave us a right to expect, on the part 
of a minister of a nation which we have so many mo- 
tives to consider as friendly. 

" It is important that we know positively in what 
light we are to hold this affair. There ought not to 
subsist between two free peoples the dissimulation 
which belongs to courts ; and it gives us pleasure to 
declare that we consider you as much opposed, per- 
sonally, to that kind of policy as we are ourselves. 

" We invite you, then, to communicate to us as 
soon as possible the treaty whereof there is question. 
It is the only means whereby you can enable the 
French nation justly to appreciate those reports so 
injurious to the American government, and to which 
that treaty gave birth." 

In reply to this and other demands for exact 



62 JAMES MONROE 

information Monroe pleaded ignorance, and he 
refused to receive from Jay confidential and in- 
formal statements in respect to the treaty. He 
contented himself with general expressions in 
reference to the purport of the English mission, 
and with strenuous efforts to allay the French 
excitement. When the treaty reached him he 
wrote to Judge Jones : " Jay's treaty surpasses 
all that I feared, great as my fears were of his 
mission. Indeed, it is the most shameful trans- 
action I have ever known of the kind." ^ 

The language in which he reported to the au- 
thorities at home, a few months before, the con- 
dition of affairs, is this, January 13, 1795 : — 

" After my late communications to the Committee 
of Public Safety, in which were exposed freely the 
object of Mr. Jay's mission to England, and the real 
situation of the United States with Britain and 
Spain, I had reason to believe that all apprehension 
on those points was done away, and that the utmost 
cordiality had now likewise taken place in that body 
towards us. I considered the report above recited, 
and upon which the decree was founded, as the une- 
quivocal proof of that change of sentiment, and flat- 
tered myself that, in every respect, we had now the 
best prospect of the most perfect and permanent har- 
mony between the two republics. I am very sorry, 
however, to add, that latterly this prospect has been 
somewhat clouded by accounts from England, that 
^ Gouvemeur MSS. 



ENVOY IN FRANCE 63 

Mr. Jay had not only adjusted the points in contro- 
versy, but concluded a treaty of commerce with that 
government. Some of those accounts state that he 
had also concluded a treaty of alliance, offensive and 
defensive. As I knew the baneful effect which these 
reports would produce, I deemed it my duty, by re- 
peating what I had said before of his powers, to use 
my utmost endeavors, informally, to discredit them. 
This, however, did not arrest the progress of the 
report, nor remove the disquietude it had created, 
for I was finally applied to, directly, by the commit- 
tee, in a letter, which stated what had been heard, 
and requested information of what I knew in regard 
to it. As I had just before received one from Mr- 
Jay, announcing that he had concluded a treaty, 
and which contained a declaration that our previous 
treaties should not be affected by it, I thought fit to 
make this letter the basis of my reply. And as it 
is necessary that you should be apprised of what- 
ever has passed here on this subject, I now trans- 
mit to you copies of these several papers, and which 
comprise a full statement thereof, up to the present 
time. 

" I cannot admit, for a moment, that Mr. Jay has 
exceeded his powers, or that anything has been done 
which will give just cause of complaint to this re- 
public. I lament, however, that he has not thought 
himself at liberty to give me correct information on 
that subject ; for until it is known that their interest 
has not been wounded, the report will certainly keep 
alive suspicion, and which always weakens the bonds 



64 JAMES MONROE 

of friendship. I trust, therefore, you will deem it 
expedient to advise me on this head as soon as pos- 
sible." 

The irritation of the French, when at length 
they discovered the actual purport of Jay's 
treaty, was very great. In February, 1796, it 
appeared that the Directory considered the alli- 
ance between France and the United States as 
ceasing to exist from the moment the treaty was 
ratified, and intended to send a special envoy 
to the United States in order to express their 
extreme dissatisfaction. Monroe succeeded in 
changing their purpose, and elicited from M. de 
la Croix, the foreign minister, a summary, in 
three headings, of the French complaints, to 
which he sent an elaborate reply. The two 
countries had come to the very verge of war. 
But the administration at home was angry with 
the envoy for not having endeavored more stren- 
uously to allay the apprehensions of France, 
and for failing to avert the impending danger. 

During the progress of these events, the port- 
folio of foreign affairs had been given up by 
Randolph, and taken up by Pickering, who be- 
gan his correspondence September 12, 1795, by 
acknowledging a series of letters, of which the 
first was written ten months before. Monroe 
gained nothing by this change in the councils at 
home. Randolph's censures were mild in com> 



ENVOY IN FRANCE 65 

parison with those which his successor bestowed 
on the unfortunate envoy. One of the severest 
of his letters is that of June 13, 1796, in which 
he complains that Monroe failed to make a suit- 
able vindication of the United States govern- 
ment at a time when the justice, the faith, and 
the honor of our country were questioned, and 
the most important interests were at stake. This 
is followed a short time afterwards by a notifica- 
tion that he is superseded by C. C. Pinckney. 

On his arrival in Paris, Pinckney was pre- 
sented by Monroe to the minister of foreign 
affairs, but was refused recognition by the Di- 
rectory, and was not permitted to remain in 
Paris. Mr. Ticknor has recorded a conversation 
with Baron Pichon to this effect : — that Paine 
lived in Monroe's house at Paris, and had a 
great deal too much influence over him ; that 
Monroe's insinuations, and representations of 
General Pinckney's character as an aristocrat, 
prevented his reception as minister by the Direc- 
tory ; and that, in general, Monroe, with whose 
negotiations and affairs Pichon was specially 
charged, acted as a party Democrat against the 
interests of General Washington's administra- 
tion, and against what Pichon considered the 
interests of the United States.^ On the other 
hand, we have Pinckney's assertion, that during 

^ liife of George Ticknor, ii. 113. 



66 JAMES MONROE 

his brief residence he saw Monroe frequently, 
and found him open and candid, and disposed 
to make every communication which would be 
of service to our country. It should also be 
said that Monroe was treated with coolness by 
the French government some time before his 
recall, though the civilities to him were renewed 
when his return to America was evidently at 
hand. 

The ceremony of flag presentation was re- 
peated in this country. A French flag, sent 
across the water, was received by Congress near 
New Year's Day in 1796. 

" A mighty foolish ceremony it was," writes the 
Federalist already quoted.^ " It may, however, have 
the good effect of quieting the minds of some people 
who are afraid that the French are very angry about 
our treaty with Great Britain. ; that nation is said to 
have been long famed for their address in meddling 
with the politics of foreign nations, and they have 
supported well the character in this country, but I 
hope we shall keep clear of their influence. The 
administrators of our government have no British 
attachment, but wish to keep clear of all foreign poli- 
tics, and hut for the madness of party I think the 
people of the United States would universally see and 
approve the policy. The treaty with Great Britain 
was necessary to settle existing disputes, in its most 
important articles ; the commercial part of it is ex- 
1 Joshua Coit, January 5, 1796. 



ENVOY IN FRANCE 67 

perimental, and throws no restraint on our commerce 
with other nations, has no tendency to form poUtical 
connections, and I believe secures important advan- 
tages to us." 

Monroe's recall was dated August 22. Men- 
tioning this fact to Joseph Jones, he intimated 
that the letter was probably kept back to pre- 
vent his arrival before the elections. " I shall 
decline a winter passage," he added, " and there- 
fore most probably shall not embark till April 
or May." ^ He reached home full of wrath, 
but the opposition party gave him a cordial 
greeting, and he was entertained in Phila- 
delphia at a public dinner where Jefferson, the 
Vice-President, Dayton, the Speaker, Chief Jus- 
tice McKean, and other conspicuous men were 
l)resent. Monroe's failure, it is clear, was not 
personal, it was a party failure. His hand 
was soon turned against the administration of 
Adams. He demanded of Pickering the rea- 
sons of his recall, and drew from the secretary, 
who was not at all afraid of saying what he 
thought, a very explicit response. Washington, 
in a note to Pickering (Mt. Vernon, August 
29, 1797), mentioned that Colonel Monroe had 
passed through Alexandria, but did not honor 
him with a call. 

The envoy's neglect did not mean silence. 

^ Gouvemeiir MSS. 



68 JAMES MONROE 

He soon published a pamphlet of five hundred 
pages, entitled, " A View of the Conduct of the 
Executive," in which he printed his instructions, 
correspondence with the French and United 
States governments, speeches, and letters re- 
ceived from Americans resident in Paris. It 
remains to this day a most extraordinary volume, 
full of entertaining and instructive lessons to 
young diplomatists. Washington, retired from 
public life, appears to have kept quiet under 
strong provocation ; but he sent a letter upon the 
subject to John Nicholas, and in his copy of the 
" View " he wrote his animadversions, paragraph 
by paragraph. These notes, long suppressed, 
were at length given to the world by Sparks.^ 

Monroe enumerates the following points, 
which, taken collectively, are to show his diplo- 
matic position and the attitude of the adminis- 
tration toward him. He mentions : — 

1. The appointment of Gouverneur Morris, a 
known enemy of the French Revolution. 

2. His continuance in office till troubles 
came. 

3. His removal at the demand of the French 
government. 

4. The subsequent appointment of Monroe, 
an opponent of the administration, especially in 
its foreign policy. 

^ Washington's Writings, vol. x. pp. 226, 504. 



ENVOY IN FRANCE 69 

5. The instructions given to Monroe as to the 
explanation he should give the French in respect 
to Jay's mission, which concealed the power 
given him to form a commercial treaty. 

6. The strong expressions of attachment to 
France and the principles of the French Revo- 
lution given to Monroe. 

7. The resentment of the administration when 
these documents were made public. 

8. The approval of Monroe's endeavor to se- 
cure a repeal of the obnoxious decrees, and the 
silence which followed their repeal. 

9. Jay's power to form a commercial treaty 
with England, without corresponding advances 
to France. 

10. The withholding from Monroe of the con- 
tents of the treaty, an evidence of unfair deal- 
ing. 

11. The submission of this treaty to M. Adet, 
after the advice of the Senate, and before its 
ratification by the President. 

12. The character of Jay's treaty, which de- 
parts from the modern rule of contraband, and 
yields the principle, " Free ships shall make free 
goods." 

13. The irritable bearing of the administra- 
tion toward France, after the ratification, in 
contrast with its bearing toward England, when 
it was proposed to decline the ratification. 



70 JAMES MONROE 

14. Monroe's recall, just when he had suc- 
ceeded in quieting the French government for 
the time, and was likely to do so effectually. 

I have not been able to trace Washington's 
copy of the " View " which, according to Sparks, 
was given to a distinguished jurist ; but in the 
library of Cornell University Sparks's transcript 
of Washington's notes is preserved. In this are 
the notes of Washington, hitherto not printed, 
on Monroe's appendix. By the permission of 
the authorities, I am able to print upon a subse- 
quent page these fresh annotations.^ Here three 
examples only will be given. Monroe, in a dis- 
patch, February 12, 1795, having spoken of 
the danger of war with France, inquires : What 
course then was I to pursue? The note of 
Washington is this : " As nothing but justice 
and the fulfillment of a contract was asked, it 
dictated firmness conducted with temperance in 
the pursuit of it." Monroe : " The doors of the 
Committee [of Public Safety] were closed 
against me." Washington : " This appears no- 
where but in his own conjectures." Again, in- 
cidentally, Washington writes : " The truth is, 
Mr. Monroe was cajoled, flattered, and made to 
believe strange things. In return he did, or was 
disposed to do, whatever was pleasing to that 
nation, reluctantly urging the rights of his own." 

1 See Appendix. 



ENVOY IN FRANCE 71 

A war of pamphlets and newspaper articles 
followed the publication of the "View," in 
which Federalists and Republicans damaged 
each other's reputations as much as they could. 

Party feeling was ablaze before Monroe pub- 
lished his book, but the flames rose fiercely 
when it appeared. Oliver Wolcott wrote to 
Washington that it was a wicked misrepresenta- 
tion of facts ; that the author's conduct was 
detested by all good men, though he was sorry 
to say that many applauded it. As to Washing- 
ton's character and administration, he was sure 
that the " View " would make no impression 
beyond the circle of Tom Paine's admirers. 
John Adams wrote that he was hurt at the lev- 
ity of the Americans in Paris. Fisher Ames's 
satirical touch is seen in a letter to Christo- 
pher Gore, written after the election of Jeffer- 
son, where he says, " Monroe will, if he likes, 
return to France to embrace liberty again," 

From another section of the Federalists this 
opinion comes. Harper of South Carolina, in 
a speech on the Foreign Intercourse Bill, speak- 
ing of the " View," remarks : — 

" In this book is to be found the most complete jus- 
tification of the Executive for his recall, in every 
respect except that it was so long delayed ; for the 
book contains the most singular display of incapacity, 
unfaithfulness, and presumption, of neglect of orders, 



72 JAMES MONROE 

forgetfulness of the dignity, rights, and interests of 
his own country, and servile devotedness to the gov- 
ernment of the country to which he was sent, that 
can be found in the history of diplomacy." 

He even intimates that Monroe was influenced 
by bribery. But this was going quite too far. 
The historian Hildreth, who is not less severe 
than the most severe critic yet quoted, in his 
estimate of Monroe repudiates the insinuation 
of Harper. " These gross insinuations," he says, 
" were totally baseless. The time had not yet 
come when American statesmen were to be pur- 
chased for money. How perfectly sincere Mon- 
roe was in his opinions is manifest throughout the 
whole correspondence, which no purchased tool 
of France, none but a man blinded by enthusi- 
astic passion, could ever have written, and still 
less would have published. Nor were such views 
at all confined to Monroe. They were shared by 
most of the leaders and by the great mass of 
the opposition party." These are the words 
of the Federalist historian, half a century after 
the " View " appeared.^ 

Some extracts should also be given from the 
writings of Monroe's friends. For example, 
Edward Church wrote from Lisbon, December 
24, 1796, " My ideas of the importance of ob- 
serving inviolate our friendship and alliance with 
1 Hildreth's United States, Second Series, ii. 101. 



ENVOY IN FRANCE 73 

the French nation go far beyond yours, as I 
conceive the connection essentially necessary to 
our preservation as independent states, it being 
evidently our best, if not our only security 
against the danger of becoming once more the 
poor, pitiful, servile, dependent slaves of Bri= 
tain." 1 

The wrath of another of Monroe's corre- 
spondents, in Paris, found expression in these 
terms : — 

" Were I able to draw the contrast, which the 
subject so richly deserves, between this extraordinary 
man's military exit and that of the late idolized stat- 
ute [sic] of the people of my country, I would so 
paint Mr. Washington on his milk-white steed, re- 
ceiving the incense of all the little girls on Trenton 
Bridge, and then I would march him about in the 
streets of Boston, so like a roasted ox that I once 
saw carried a whole day in triumph by the people of 
that famous town, that the automaton chief should 
groan and sweat under the weight of those laurels, 
which are momently dropping from his brows into 
the sink and dirt of his puny and anti-republican 
administration." ^ 

There is a significant paragraph in Thiers^s 
" History of the French Revolution," which may 
be regarded, I think, as showing the impression 

^ Gouverneur MSS. 

2 Gouverneur MSS. May 15, 1797. 



74 JAMES MONROE 

which Monroe made upon the people to whom 
he was accredited : — 

" In the French government there were persons in 
favor of a rupture with the United States. Monroe, 
who was ambassador to Paris, gave the Directory 
the most prudent advice on this occasion. War with 
France, said he, will force the American government 
to throw itself into the arms of England and to sub- 
mit to her influence ; aristocracy will gain supreme 
control in the United States, and liberty will be com- 
promised. By patiently enduring, on the contrary, 
the wrongs of the present President, you will leave 
him without excuse, you will enlighten the Americans, 
and decide a contrary choice at the next election. 
All the wrongs of which France may have to com- 
plain will then be repaired. This wise and provident 
advice had its effect upon the Directory. Rewbell, 
Barras, and Lar^veillfere had caused It to be adopted 
in opposition to the opinion of the systematic Carnot, 
who, though in general favorably disposed to peace, 
insisted on the cession of Louisiana, with a view to 
attempt the establishment of a republic there." 

In addition to this diplomatic controversy, 
Monroe was involved in another more personal 
collision with Hamilton, occasioned by the Cal- 
lender publication,^ — but into the details of 
this disagreeable story I see no reason for enter- 
ing now. 

^ " An undigested and garrulous collection of libels." Hit' 
dreth, Second Series, u. 104. 



ENVOY IN FRANCE 75 

Monroe was much displeased by the publica- 
tion of that part of his dispatches which related 
to the Jacobins, and thus wrote to Judge Jones, 
June 20, 1795 : — 

" The publication of extracts from my letters re- 
specting the Jacobins was an unbecoming and uncan- 
did thing, as they were the only parts of my corre- 
spondence that were published. I stated the truth, 
and therefore am not dissatisfied with the publication 
in that respect. But to me it appears strange that 
the fortunes of that misguided club should be the 
only subject treated in my correspondence upon which 
it was necessary to convey the information it could 
to our countrymen. Certainly, in relation to the 
honor and welfare of my country, it was the least 
important of all the subjects upon which I treated. 
Besides, that club was as unlike the patriotic socie- 
ties in America as light is to darkness, the former 
being a society that had absolutely annihilated all 
other government in France, and whose denunciations 
carried immediately any of the deputies to the scaf- 
fold, whereas the latter are societies of enlightened 
men, who discuss measures and principles, and of 
course whose opinions have no other weight than as 
they are well founded and have reason on their side, 
to extirpate which is to extirpate liberty itself." 

During all his exciting residence in Paris, it 
is interestinsT to trace the minute interest main- 
tained by Monroe in whatever pertained to his 
domestic affairs. There are long letters in the 



76 JAMES MONROE 

Gouverneui collection devoted to his financial 
business, to the welfare of his brothers, Andrew 
and Joseph, and of his sister, to his land bought 
near Monticello, his servants, fruit-trees, etc., 
besides many a passage in regard to his nephew 
Joseph, who was at school at St. Germain, 
and young Kutledge, likewise placed under the 
envoy's paternal care. His interest in the pro- 
gress of these American boys in their French 
school betrays an unvarying kindness of heart 
in the midst of pressing anxieties and cares. 

Times change. Five years after Monroe's re- 
call, Jefferson writes : ^ " We have ever looked 
to France as our natural friend, one with whom 
we could never have an occasion of difference ; 
but there is one spot on the globe, the possessor 
of which is our natural enemy. That spot is 
New Orleans. France placing herself in that 
door assumes to us the attitude of defiance. . . . 
From that moment we must marry ourselves to 
the British fleet and nation." 

1 To Livingston, AprU 18, 1802. 



CHAPTER IV 

ENVOY IN FRANCE, SPAIN, AND ENGLAND 

Jefferson, never wanting in interest when 
Monroe's affairs required counsel, and trusting 
him implicitly, wrote to the despondent and 
angry envoy that he ought to come forward 
again into public life. " Come to Congress," 
was his advice, as if coming to Congress was 
an act of the will, — " reappear on the public 
theatre ; Cabel has said he would give way to 
you." 1 But instead of entering at once into 
national affairs, Monroe became governor of 
Virginia, and held the office three years. Jef- 
ferson, meanwhile, had become President, and 
soon had an opportunity to return Monroe to 
the legation in France. The story of this sec- 
ond embassy includes the purchase of Louisiana, 
and has therefore been examined over and over 
again by those who are interested in the growth 
of our national territory. 

In addition to the usual publication of the 
correspondence of the times, much reliance is 

1 Letter to Monroe, May 21, 1798. Jefferson, iv. 241-243. 



78 JAMES MONROE 

placed on the volume by Barbe Marbols, in 
which he reports his interviews with Bonaparte. 
The English translation of this work is at- 
tributed to William Beach Lawrence ; ^ its 
appendix omits some statements which are 
given in the original French. Among the 
manuscripts of Monroe I have met with this 
remark : — " The work of Marbois is written in a 
spirit of great candor, and with friendly feeling 
for me, but he is mistaken in some facts which 
I have documents to show." ^ 

The importance of the outlet of the Missis- 
sippi to the inhabitants of the great valley of 
the West was always obvious. As early as 
1784 Monroe had written in regard to it, and 
in his first mission to France, as we have seen, 
he had been instructed to press the claims of 
the United States. 

In the spring of 1801 intelligence reached 
this country that Spain had ceded her rights in 
Louisiana to France, and the next year the 
Spanish intendant gave notice that New Or- 
leans would no longer be a " place of deposit." ^ 
Jefferson communicated this highly significant 
information to Congress when it assembled 
in December. There was great excitement 
through the country, especially in the West, 

1 C. F. Hart, in Penh Monthly. 2 May 29, 1829. 

8 October 16, 1802. 



ENVOY IN FRANCE, SPAIN, ENGLAND 79 

and one newspaper, at least, raised the cry of 
disunion. 

The conclusion was quickly reached, to pur- 
chase from France, if possible, the outlet to 
the Gulf of Mexico. Congress appropriated 
the sum of two million dollars for this object ; 
and Jefferson selected Monroe to go as a special 
minister and act with Livingston, our resident 
representative at Paris, in an endeavor to secure 
the coveted domain. Almost simultaneously 
Lewis and Clarke were recommended for the 
exploration of the upper Mississippi. Monroe 
accordingly went upon his embassy, and within 
a month after his arrival was able, with his 
colleague, to report the purchase of Louisiana. 
The treaty was ratified by Bonaparte in May, 
1803, and by the Senate of the United States 
in the next October. 

It is not always that the interior history of a 
great international bargain is so fully revealed 
to the public as it is in the present case, and 
Monroe's relation to it must now be more care- 
fully considered. 

The interests of four nations were closely 
involved in this transaction : Spain, who had 
promised to yield her rights in Louisiana, but 
retained her control of the Floridas, and had 
not, according to Talleyrand's statements, quite 
perfected the transfer ; England, in a hostile 



80 JAMES MONROE 

attitude toward France, and not unlikely at any- 
time to make a descent upon a portion of her 
territory ; France, in anxious expectation of an 
outbreak of hostilities, in want of money, and 
predisposed to build up in America a power 
which should rival England ; and the United 
States, eager to secure the maritime outlet of 
its great river system, and almost inclined to 
seize it by force. 

Six individuals were conspicuous in the nego- 
tiation. On the American side were Jefferson, 
once minister to France, now sixty years old 
and half way through his first presidential term, 
whose sagacity recognized the importance of 
securing Louisiana, and initiated the purchase ; 
R. R. Livingston, two years younger, who had 
been for two years resident as the American 
minister in France, who had been pressing 
the American claim to be indemnified for the 
French spoliations, and had brought the gov- 
ernment to consider the possibility of ceding 
the desired territory ; and Monroe, forty-five 
years old, whose former residence in Paris was 
not forgotten, and who entered upon his second 
diplomatic mission fresh from the instructions 
of Jefferson and Madison, and from the inspira- 
tion of popular enthusiasm with respect to the 
acquisition which he was sent to secure. On 
the French side stood Bonaparte, the youngest 



ENVOY IN FRANCE, SPAIN, ENGLAND 81 

of the group, thirty-five years old, then First 
Consul, and in the flush of his military and 
civil power ; Talleyrand, a man of forty-nine 
years, holding the portfolio of foreign affairs, 
not wholly trusted by the Consul, but well qual- 
ified by his skill in diplomacy and by his ac- 
quaintance with the United States to take a 
part in the business ; and Marbois, about the 
age of Livingston, who had held a diplomatic 
position in America, and who was now the min- 
ister of the treasury, enjoying the confidence of 
Bonaparte, and called by him to be leader in 
this negotiation. In his history of this trans- 
action, Marbois attributes its rapid and feli- 
citous progress to the fact that the plenipoten- 
tiaries had been long acquainted, and were 
disposed to treat one another with mutual con- 
fidence. 

LivinfTston, as soon as he heard of Monroe's 
arrival in Havre, sent him the following letter 
of welcome, written in a tone of despondency : — 

" lOth April, 1803. 
" I congratulate you on your safe arrival. We 
have long and anxiously waited for you. God grant 
that your mission may answer your and the public 
expectation. War may do something for us ; nothing 
else would. I have paved the way for you, and if 
you could add to my memoirs an assurance that we 
were now in possession of New Orleans, we should 



82 JAMES MONROE 

do well ; but I detain Mr. Bentalou, who is impatient 
to fly to the arms of his wife. I have apprised the 
minister of your arrival, and told him you would be 
here on Tuesday or Wednesday." 

It so happened that on this very day, April 
10, after the solemnities of Easter Sunday, 
Bonaparte discussed with Talleyrand and Mar- 
bois the Louisiana question. They were divided 
in counsel ; the conference was prolonged into 
the night, and the ministers remained at St. 
Cloud. At daybreak Bonaparte, having already 
received alarming dispatches from England, 
summoned Marbois, who had advised the ces- 
sion, and said to him in substance : " I renounce 
Louisiana. Negotiate for its cession. Don't 
wait for Monroe. I want fifty million francs ; 
for less I will not treat. Acquaint me day by 
day, hour by hour, with your progress. Keep 
Talleyrand informed." Armed with these in- 
structions, Marbois sought Livingston. Before 
they met, Talleyrand had been unsuccessfully 
endeavoring to reach some point of agreement. 
He had asked Livingston if the United States 
wished for the whole of Louisiana. The answer 
had been No ; but that it would be politic in 
France to give it up. The price to be paid was 
the matter in question. 

At this juncture Monroe reached Paris. He 
heard with surprise from Livingston of the 



ENVOY IN FRANCE, SPAIN, ENGLAND 83 

readiness of the French to sell the territory, and 
the two envoys proceeded to discuss the price 
which they could venture to promise. While 
Monroe was taking his first dinner with Liv- 
ingston, in company with other American gen- 
tlemen, Marbois appeared in the garden and 
presently joined the party. Before leaving he 
led Livingston into a free conference upon the 
cession, and invited him to continue the talk at 
a later hour after the company had dispersed. 
Livinofston went to the house of Marbois, and 
stayed there till midnight. The whole country 
of Louisiana was then offered to the United 
States for one hundred million francs, and the 
claims. Livingston pronounced it an exorbi- 
tant price, and Marbois did not deny that it 
was. No conclusion could be reached without 
consulting Monroe ; but Livingston, without 
waiting to do so, sat up until three o'clock and 
wrote a midnight dispatch to Madison, narrating 
the interview with Marbois, and saying that he 
was sure the purchase was wise. He also made 
a suggestion, which in these days is astounding, 
that if the price is too high, the outlay may be 
reimbursed by the " sale of the territory west of 
the Mississippi, with the right of sovereignty, 
to some Power in Europe, whose vicinity we 
should not fear." ^ This is not precisely in 

* State Papers, ii. 554. 



84 JAMES MONROE 

accordance with what was afterwards known as 
the Monroe doctrine. 

From this time on, Talleyrand was not con- 
spicuous in the scenes, though it is more than 
possible that behind them his hand was at work, 
perhaps obstructively. At any rate, for one 
reason or another, he delayed the presentation 
of Monroe to Bonaparte until May 1, and even 
then failed to be personally present, leaving to 
Livingston the ceremonious duty of naming his 
colleague. Probably he was annoyed that the 
First Consul agreed with Marbois, and had given 
to him the authority to proceed with the Louisi- 
ana negotiation. 

Livingston and Monroe, after reviewing the 
situation, made up their minds that they could 
give fifty millions, and, in the bargaining spirit 
which governed both sides, offered forty mil- 
lions, one half to be returned to American 
claimants. Marbois expressed his regret that 
they could not give more, and proposed to 
consult the Consul. He came back from St. 
Cloud, saying that the business might be con- 
sidered as no longer in his hands, so coolly had 
Bonaparte received their proposition. He ad- 
vised that some pressure be brought to bear 
upon Talleyrand in order to secure the early 
presentation of Monroe. Later in the day 
Marbois came in to a dinner which Cambaceres 



ENVOY IN FRANCE, SPAIN, ENGLAND 85 

was giving, and told the American envoys that 
if the Consul did not reopen the question they 
might consider the plan relinquished. They 
quickly proceeded to offer fifty millions. Mar- 
bois doubted whether this would be accepted. 
Here came a significant pause lasting for several 
days. " We were resting on our oars," says 
one of the negotiators. 

On April 17 Bonaparte made an official an- 
nouncement to the Pope and others that, in 
consequence of England's violation of the Peace 
of Amiens, France was involved in war with 
her. It is easy to see the bearing of this on the 
American negotiations. Ten days later Mar- 
bois laid before Livingston and Monroe the 
draft of a treaty given him by the government,^ 
and another which was his own. In the latter 
he proposed as the price eighty million francs, 
which was to include the sum requisite for the 
American claimants. Our envoys offered fifty 
millions, with twenty more for the claimants, 
but at last acceded to the figures of Marbois. 

This concluded the business. Marbois tells 
us that when Bonaparte heard what sum had 
been agreed upon, he received the intelligence 

1 In the Correspondance de Napolion, vol. viii., the projet 
of a secret convention between France and the United States 
is printed (without signature), dated April 23, 1803, from the 
Archives de France. 



86 JAMES MONROE 

with opposition. He had forgotten, or he 
feigned to forget, his original willingness to sell 
for fifty millions, and he objected to the allow- 
ance of twenty millions to the American suitors ; 
but he soon grew calmer and acquiesced in the 
cession. " I have given to England," he said 
exultingly, " a maritime rival which will sooner 
or later humble her pride." Some details were 
worked out in respect to the mode of payment ; 
Monroe's presentation to the Consul soon fol- 
lowed ; and at length, May 2, the plenipoten- 
tiaries signed the French copy of the treaty, 
and two or three days later the copy in English. 
On the thirteenth of the month a ratified copy 
was transmitted to Madison. Two conventions 
proceeded from the treaty of cession, the first in 
respect to the mode of payment for the cession ; 
the second in respect to American claims. 

As soon as they had signed the treaty the 
plenipotentiaries rose and shook hands, when 
Livingston said, expressing the general satis- 
faction, "We have lived long, but this is the 
noblest work of our whole lives." ^ This har- 

1 His speech as reported by Marbois, p. 310, is full of in- 
terest. The M^moires of Lucien Bonaparte contain many- 
interesting particulars of the negotiation. The whole story of 
the Louisiana purchase and the discussions to which it led is 
told with admirable vivacity and with ample details in the 
History of the United States under the First Administration of 
Jefferson, by Henry Adams, vol. ii. 



ENVOY IN FRANCE, SPAIN, ENGLAND 87 

monious conclusion was not reached without 
some personal rivalry — if jealousy is too harsh 
a term to be employed — between the American 
representatives ; and there is a long letter still 
extant in which Monroe recounts the embarrass- 
ments of the situation arising from the conduct 
of his colleague. But their personal feelings 
were fortunately kept in the background until 
the business was concluded, although they may 
be incidentally traced in their public and official 
correspondence.^ 

On May 21 Marbois received the following 
letter of acknowledgment : ^ — 

" Sur les 240,000 francs, Citoyen Ministre, que 
doivent les six banquiers du tr^sor public, 48,000 
francs seront donnds en gratification, conform^ment 
k ma lettre de ce jour ; 192,000 francs seront h. 
voire disposition pour supplier a I'insuffisance de 
votre traitement, ayant I'intention que vous voyiez 
dans cette disposition le d<^sir que j'ai de vous t^ 
moigner ma satisfaction de vos travaux importants et 
du bon ordre que vous avez mis dans votre ministfere, 
qui ont valu h, la R^publique un grand nonibre de 
millions. Bonaparte." 

Monroe took leave of Bonaparte June 24, 
having been presented to him for this purpose 

1 Monroe MSS. 

2 Correspondance de NapoUon 7"", An XI. (1803). 



88 JAMES MONROE 

by Talleyrand at St. Cloud. The First Consul 
asked if he were about going to London, and 
Monroe replied that he had lately received the 
orders of the President, in case our affairs here 
were amicably adjusted, to repair to London ; 
that the resignation of our minister there, and 
the want of a charge^ made it necessary to go 
at once. He then gave a formal expression of 
American good-will ; to which Bonaparte re- 
plied that " no one wished more than himself 
the preservation of a good understanding ; that 
the cession he had made was not so much on 
account of the price given as from motives of 
policy ; and that he wished for friendship be- 
tween the republics." ^ 

In the progress of this affair the French had 
promised the Americans to exert their good in- 
fluences with Spain to induce her to yield the 
Floridas, — the limit separating these posses- 
sions from Louisiana being then in dispute. 
Monroe, as soon as the Louisiana purchase was 
completed, determined to go to Madrid and treat 
for the Floridas, but Cambaceres, who heard 
him say this one day at dinner, almost forbade 
him, for reasons which were not quite easy to 
be discovered. He accordingly called on the 
Spanish minister, and there to his surprise he 
found that Livingston had already begun that 

1 Monroe MSS. 



ENVOY IN FRANCE, SPAIN, ENGLAND 89 

negotiation with Spain which Monroe had been 
especially charged to undertake. This led to 
serious explanations between the two American 
envoys. Monroe postponed his visit to Spain 
and went to London. He had left the United 
States accredited to France, Spain and England, 
— the commission to the Court of St. James 
having been an afterthought, and dated three 
months later. 

As a sequel to this narrative, the following 
letter to Marbois from Monroe will be read with 
interest : ^ — 

" London, February 14, 1804. 

" My last letter from the secretary of state (of 
December 26) mentioned that Louisiana was surren- 
dered to the Prefect of France the latter end of 
November, who was to transfer it to the commis- 
sioners of the United States on their arrival at New 
Orleans, which was expected in a day or two from 
that date. Mr. Madison adds that he considers all 
difficulties on that subject as happily terminated. Mr. 
B. is expected here daily with everything belonging 
to a complete execution of this transaction. In the 
mean time I an-, persuaded that the house in Holland 
will consider it as concluded and act accordingly. 

" It gives me pleasure to observe that the prompt 
and unconditional exchange of ratifications by your 
charge d'affaires at Washington, and his correct con- 
duct in promoting the transfer of the territory of the 

1 Monroe MSS. 



90 JAMES MONROE 

United States, in obedience to the orders of his gov- 
ernment, are unequivocal proofs of the good faith 
with which the treaties were formed. The manner 
in which the President expressed himself in his mes- 
sage to Congress of the enlarged liberty and friendly 
policy which governed the First Consul in the trans- 
action, shows in strong terms the sense which he 
entertains of it. May it seal forever the friendship 
of the two nations. To have been in any degree 
instrumental to that important result is one of the 
circumstances of my life which will always give me 
the highest satisfaction. In society with my respect- 
able colleague, to have met an old friend on the other 
side, who had experienced, as well as myself, some 
vicissitudes in the extraordinary movements of the 
epoch in which we live, is an Incident which adds 
not a little to the gratification \yhich I derive from 
the event. 

" You have doubtless heard that Jerome Bonaparte 
is married to Miss Patterson of Baltimore. Her fa- 
ther is one of the most respectable citizens of that 
town or rather of the State of INIaryland. Her 
mother is a sister of General Smith, a member of 
the Senate of the United States, the officer who de- 
fended Mud Island below Philadelphia in our Revo- 
lution. The connection is every way as respectable 
as he could have formed in the United States. The 
young lady is amiable, very handsome, and perfectly 
innocent. The bearer of this is her brother, who 
goes to Paris from this place, to carry a letter from 
Jerome to the First Consul, which was transmitted 



ENVOY IN FRANCE, SPAIN, ENGLAND 91 

to me by her father. As he has also written to Mr. 
Livingston, I inclose to him the letter to the First 
Consul, as he might expect that the communication 
should be made through him. Nevertheless, I have 
taken the liberty to present to you the young man, 
and apprise you of the above facts, in confidence that 
you will make such friendly representations of the 
affair as you may find necessary." 

The letter concludes with messages of private 
friendship. 

Livingston was never quite at his ease in re- 
spect to Monroe. He naturally felt some cha- 
grin in not being allowed to conclude, without 
the support of a fresh colleague, the negotiation 
he had undertaken, and he was careful not to 
yield any of his own prerogatives or to conceal 
his own services. The apprehensions under 
which he opened his correspondence with Mon- 
roe, on the latter's arrival in Havre, he subse- 
quently explained as due to the dissimulations 
of Talleyrand. These were his explanations to 
Madison : ^ — 

" I have in my former letter informed you of M. 
Talleyrand's calling upon me, previous to the arrival 
of Mr. Monroe, for a proposition for the whole of 
Louisiana ; of his afterwards trifling with me, and 
telling me that what he said was unauthorized. 
This circumstance, for which I have accounted to 

1 November 15, 1803. 



92 JAMES MONROE 

you in one of my letters, led me to think, though it 
afterwards appeared without reason, that some change 
had taken place in the determination which I knew 
the Consul had before taken to sell. I had just then 
received a line from Mr. Monroe, informing me of 
his arrival. I wrote to him a hasty answer, under 
the influence of ideas excited by these prevarications 
of the minister, expressing the hope that he had 
brought information that New Orleans was in our 
possession ; that I hoped our negotiation might be 
successful ; but that, while I feared nothing but war 
would avail us anything, I had paved the way for 
him. This letter is very imprudently shown and 
spoken of by Mr. Monroe's particular friends as a 
proof that he had been the principal agent in the 
negotiation. So far, indeed, as it may tend to this 
object, it is of little moment, because facts and dates 
are too well known to be contradicted. For instance, 
it is known to everybody here that the Consul had 
taken his resolution to sell previous to Mr. Monroe's 
arrival. It is a fact well known that M. Marbois 
was authorized, informally, by the First Consul, to 
treat with me, before Mr. Monroe reached Paris ; 
that he actually made me the very proposition we 
ultimately agreed to, before Mr. Monroe had seen a 
minister, except M. Marbois, for a moment, at my 
house, where he came to make the proposition, Mr. 
Monroe not having been presented to M. Talleyrand, 
to whom I introduced him the afternoon of the next 
day. All, then, that remained to negotiate, after his 
arrival, was a diminution of the price, and in this 



ENVOY IN FRANCE, SPAIN, ENGLAND 93 

our joint mission was unfortunate ; for we came up» 
as soon as Mr. Monroe's illness would suffer him to 
do business, after a few days delay, to the minister's 
offers. There is no doubt that Mr. Monroe's talents 
and address would have enabled him, had he been 
})laced in my circumstances, to have effected what I 
have done. But he, unfortunately, came too late to 
do more than assent to the propositions that were 
made us, and to aid in reducing them to form. I 
think he has too much candor not to be displeased 
that his friends should publicly endeavor to depreciate 
me by speaking of a private letter, hastily written, 
under circumstances of irritation with which Mr. 
Monroe is fully acquainted ; a letter, too, which may 
contribute in two ways to advance the views of the 
enemies of the administration. It is in this light 
only that it gives me pain." 

In looking over this extraordinary chapter in 
history, which records probably the largest 
transaction in real estate which the world has 
ever known, it is interesting to trace the concur- 
rence of so many factors. The ambition of 
Napoleon, the sagacity of Jefferson, the diplo- 
macy of Talleyrand and Marbois, the caution of 
Livinoston, the enthusiasm of Monroe, were all 
manifested in the sale of a part of the North 
American continent, the boundaries of which 
were uncertain, the title insecure, and the price 
incapable of being determined by any market 
standard nearer than " the cost of Etruria," 



94 JAMES MONROE 

which was the price of the cession of Louisiana 
by Spain. Yet back of these personal influ- 
ences were great ideas controlling the action of 
vigorous nations ; there was the English deter- 
mination to put down the rising dominion of 
Napoleon ; there was the willingness of Spain 
to give up New Orleans ; there was the Ameri- 
can resolution to secure, by diplomacy or by 
force, the Mississippi outlet ; there was the read- 
iness of France to prevent the seizure of New 
Orleans by the English, and to build up in the 
new world a powerful rival to Great Britain. 
France was enough involved with financial diffi- 
culties to need money ; the United States, by a 
wise financial policy, was in good credit at Am- 
sterdam ; and so, when the price had been fixed, 
there was no trouble about payment, and no 
delay in the transfer. 

Nobody could foretell the momentous conse- 
quences which would proceed from this sale. 
Bonaparte thought that two or three hundred 
years later American influence might be over- 
powering, a contingency so remote that even his 
aspirations were not affected by it ; and Jeffer- 
son was far-seeing enough to devise an explor- 
ing expedition which should proceed to the ex- 
treme Northwest and report with as much 
precision as the science of the day would permit 
in respect to the sources of the great rivers. 



ENVOY IN FRANCE, SPAIN, ENGLAND 95 

But this was all. Beyond the Mississippi was 
a land unknown. The Americans did not ask 
for it, and Livingston comforted himself with 
the thought that perhaps a part of it could be 
resold ; France pressed its purchase on those 
who were only asking for New Orleans and the 
rioridas. By this marvelous combination of 
circumstances Louisiana, including the far 
Northwest, became ours. 

The subsequent history of the United States 
has been closely connected with this famous 
acquisition. The Missouri compromise, the an- 
nexation of Texas, the northwestern boundary 
disputes, the acquisition of California and of 
the northern provinces of Mexico, the discovery 
of gold and silver, the Nebraska bill, the Mor- 
mon difficulty, the Indian policy, the Alaska 
purchase, the Pacific railroads, the isthmus canal 
question, the Chinese immigration, — who can 
say that any one of these controversies and 
events would ever have come to the front if 
Spain, or France, or Great Britain had re- 
mained in control of that half of our domain 
which lies beyond the Mississippi ? 

Among the concurrent circumstances there is 
none so extraordinary to us who are accustomed 
to constitutional limitations, as the arbitrary 
power then held in France by one who was still 
a young man, and who, a few years previous, — at 



96 JAMES MONROE 

the beginning, let us say, of Monroe's first mis- 
sion, — was comparatively unknown, and without 
the slightest prescience of his coming authority. 
The memoirs of Marbois, Livingston and Mon- 
roe, and the correspondence of Napoleon, do not 
give any indication that the First Consul, in this 
far-reaching exercise of his authority, was guided 
by the opinion of a cabinet or council, or re- 
stricted by any fundamental law. He speaks to 
Marbois in the singular number, like the owner 
of a house or farm, as if he were, indeed, the 
personification of France. He does, it is true, 
consult two ministers of state, but he turns ab- 
ruptly away from the advice of one of them, and 
to the other he gives directions as positive and 
arbitrary as if he were directing a broker to sell 
a cargo. The mighty deeds of Napoleon's sword 
have been undone, but the stroke of his pen 
wrought a change which now, after fourscore 
years have passed, is no more liable to counter- 
change than the Mississippi is to flow into the 
lakes. 

Soon after Monroe's arrival in England he 
received from Madison, the secretary of state, 
the plan of a convention to be proposed to the 
British government, with particular reference 
to our maritime rights. We had suffered so 
much from impressment of seamen, blockade, 
and the search of our vessels, that it was quite 



ENVOY IN FRANCE, SPAIN, ENGLAND 97 

time to insist on the national claims. Early in 
April, 1804, the subject was brought to the 
attention of Lord Hawkesbury ; but before any 
response was received Addington had yielded 
the leadership to Pitt, and Lord Harrowby had 
taken the foreign office. He received Monroe 
in a manner which was fitted to wound and 
irritate ; not a friendly sentiment toward the 
United States escaped him ; and the American 
minister considered these concerns as postponed 
indefinitely. Before autumn the foreign min- 
ister grew more conciliatory, but no conclusions 
were reached at the beginning of October, when, 
by mutual consent, the negotiations were post- 
poned, and Monroe left London on an absence 
of several months. 

Looking forward to a release from the public 
service, Monroe wrote to Judge Jones from 
London, May 16, 1804, saying that he should 
gather a collection of law books and bring them 
home with a view to continuing the practice of 
the law. He hoped that thus, with the aid of a 
farm, he might gain enough to support a family 
without the aid of other resources. He indi- 
cated his strong preference for Richmond and 
directed the sale of his land above Charlottes- 
ville, as it brought no income. He said he 
could live better on two thousand dollars per 
year in Richmond than on two thousand pounds 



98 JAMES MONROE 

in London. He had thought seriously of accept- 
ing the appointment in Louisiana which Mad- 
ison was willing to give him, though the admin- 
istration seemed to prefer that he should remain 
in London. Jefferson intimated that he might 
be sent to Spain. The whole tenor of the letter 
is that of one who is longing for repose at home, 
suffering from fatigue and poor health abroad, 
and in want of sufficient means to maintain 
agreeably his diplomatic station, ^ 

It will be remembered that he went from the 
United States commissioned to Spain as well as 
France, but did not continue his journey to 
Madrid. In the autumn of 1804 he resumed 
the proposed negotiations with Spain, and, as he 
went through Paris, solicited from Talleyrand 
the French support in his endeavor to secure 
from the Spaniards the cession of their posses- 
sions to the east of the mouths of the Missis- 
sippi. The exact eastern boundary of the 
Louisiana Territory already acquired by the 
United States was undetermined, and Florida 
was wanted. Months previous Napoleon had 
pledged his good offices in the promotion of the 
plans of the United States ; but when they were 
now solicited he failed to make the expected 
response, although cautiously warned that there 
was danger of an immediate rupture between 

^ Gouvemeur MSS. 



ENVOY IN FRANCE, SPAIN, ENGLAND 99 

Spain and the United States, which would, 
indirectly at least, be harmful to France. 
Monroe and Pinckney accordingly prosecuted 
their mission as best they could without the 
French cooperation. From January to May 
they were in constant negotiation with the 
Spanish minister, Don Pedro Cevallos, — but 
it all resulted in nothing and Monroe returned 
to his residence in London. 

Lord Mulffrave was now in the foreio-n office. 
New seizures of American vessels by the British 
gave renewed emphasis to the American com- 
plaints, which were met with dilatory and pro- 
voking responses. The death of Pitt brought 
about another change of ministry early in 1806, 
and the whole story of our demands was pre- 
sented to the more friendly consideration of 
Fox, who promised to give his immediate atten- 
tion to the business and pursue it without delay 
until it was concluded. But he again encoun- 
tered obstacles among his colleagues. Mean- 
while, as Monroe had been sent to reinforce 
other ministers, William Pinkney was sent to 
reinforce Monroe. He had previously been 
resident in London for a long time, and had 
pressed to a successful issue the claims of the 
State of Maryland to some stock in the Bank of 
England. He had held the office of commis- 
sioner under the treaty of 1794. The joint 



100 JAMES MONROE 

commission of the two envoys was dated May 
17, 1806, and covered a larger field of negotia- 
tion and convention than that which had been 
intrusted to Monroe alone. Their early com- 
munications to Madison contained the same old 
story of delay. Fox was now ill beyond the 
hope of recovery, and the good offices of his 
nephew. Lord Holland, were solicited to secure 
an official recognition from the king. Lord 
Grenville now assumed the direction of affairs, 
and he soon informed the Americans that Lord 
Auckland and Lord Holland were appointed as 
a special commission to discuss all matters pend- 
ing between the two governments. Toward the 
end of August, 1806, serious negotiations began 
in Downing Street, and as the last day of the 
year was reached, these wearisome and complex 
deliberations were concluded by a treaty. This 
was forwarded to Washington at once by the 
hand of Mr. Purviance, but it did not reach Mr. 
Jefferson until March 15. Twelve days before, 
on March 3, just before the adjournment of 
Congress, the President saw a copy of the treaty 
which Mr. Erskine, the British minister, had 
received.^ 

Long as the negotiations had been, and vo- 
luminous as were the results, the treaty failed 
in two fundamental points. It made no provi- 
1 J. Q. Adams's Diary, i. 466. 



ENVOY IN FRANCE, SPAIN, ENGLAND 101 

sion against the impressment of our seamen; 
and it secured no indemnity for losses which 
Americans had incurred in the seizure of their 
goods and vessels. Jefferson " pigeon-holed " 
it. He took the responsibility, without sum- 
moninsf the Senate, to withhold his ratification. 
When it became evident that this would be the 
result, the secretary of state wrote to the com- 
missioners that the President thought it better, 
if no satisfactory or formal stipulation on the 
subject of impressment were attainable, that the 
negotiation should terminate without any formal 
compact whatever. A fresh draft of the Ameri- 
can expectations was then drawn up, upon 
which the two envoys might renew their nego- 
tiations. 

In his memoirs of the Whig party Lord 
Holland has given a graphic picture of the 
American commissioners, and of the attitude of 
the English government, which may here be 
quoted : — 

" Without notice or explanation, an order for de- 
taining all neutrals engaged in such a commerce was 
suddenly issued ; and a prodigious number of Ameri- 
cans were brought into our ports by his majesty's 
cruisers in the summer and autumn of 1805. The 
principle of these seizures was not likely to be very 
readily admitted by any independent power whose 
subjects had suffered by the application of it. The 



102 JAMES MONROE 

sudden and peremptory manner of enforcing it was 
yet more offensive, and aggravated that hostile feel- 
ing which long mismanagement on our part, and 
some folly on theirs, had created in the leading party 
in North America. Mr. Monroe and Mr. Pinkney 
were instructed to insist on an explanation upon this 
important point, on some regulation of the impress- 
ment of British seamen found in American merchant 
vessels, on the right and practice of searching for 
them at sea, and on many other inferior hut difficult 
subjects. When, however, the death of Mr. Pitt 
was known, the spii'it, though not the substance, of 
their instructions was softened, and the mission was 
authorized to assume a more conciliatory tone than 
their original instructions seemed to breathe. The 
two gentlemen were empowered to negotiate and 
conclude a treaty of commerce, which should regulate 
all disputed points, and place the two countries per- 
manently on a more amicable footing. We found 
the two American commissioners fair, explicit, frank 
and intelligent. Mr. Monroe (afterwards President) 
was a sincere Republican, who during the Revolution 
in France had imbibed a strong predilection for that 
country, and no slight aversion to this. But he had 
candor and principle. A nearer view of the consu- 
lar and imperial government of France, and of our 
constitution in England, converted him from both 
these opinions. ' I find,' said he to me, ' your mon- 
archy more republican than monarchical, and the 
French republic infinitely more monarchical than 
your monarchy.' He was plain in his manners and 



ENVOY IN FRANCE, SPAIN, ENGLAND 103 

somewhat slow in his apprehension ; but he was a 
diligent, earnest, sensible, and even profound man. 
His colleague, who had been partly educated in 
England and was a lawyer by profession, had more 
of the forms and readiness of business, and greater 
knowledge and cultivation of mind ; but perhaps his 
opinions were neither so firmly rooted nor so deeply 
considered as those of Mr. Monroe. Throughout 
our negotiation they were conciliatory, both in form 
and in substance. They exceeded their instructions 
by signing a treaty which left the article of impress- 
ment unsettled. My colleague and I took credit to 
ourselves for having convinced them of the extreme 
difficulty of the subject, arising from the impossibility 
of our allowing seamen to withdraw themselves from 
our service during war, and from the inefficacy of aU 
the regulations which they had been enabled to pro- 
pose for preventing their entering into American 
ships. They, on the other hand, persuaded us that 
they were themselves sincere in wishing to prevent 
it; and we saw no reason for suspecting that the 
government of the United States was less so. But 
though they professed, and I believe felt, a strong 
wish to enforce such a provision, they did not con- 
vince us that they had the power or means of enfor- 
cing it. There was, consequently, no article in the 
treaty upon the subject. Upon this omission and 
upon other more frivolous pretexts, but with the real 
purpose and effect of defeating Mr. Monroe's views 
on the presidentship, Mr. Jefferson refused to ratify 
a treaty which would have secured his countrymen 



104 JAMES MONROE 

from all further vexations, and prevented a war 
between two nations, whose habits, language, and 
interests should unite them in perpetual alliance and 
good-fellowship. 

" I had an opportunity during this negotiation of 
observing the influence of situation over men's opin- 
ions. The atmosphere of the admiralty made those 
who breathed it shudder at anything like concessions 
to the Americans ; while the anxiety to avoid war and 
to enlarge our resources by commerce, so natural in 
the treasury, softened natures otherwise less yield- 
ing, and led them to listen with favor to every con- 
ciliatory expedient." 

Events were driving the two nations into a 
collision which might have been averted by 
diplomacy, but which soon developed into war. 
On July 24 the American commissioners, in ac- 
cordance with their instructions, had reopened a 
correspondence wnth Mr. Canning, now foreign 
secretary in the Portland ministry, and on the 
very next day intelligence was received in Lon- 
don that the British ship Leopard, asserting the 
right to search for deserters, had attacked the 
American frigate Chesapeake, off the Chesa- 
peake capes. ^ Of course this brought still more 
delay. After the settlement of this aggression 
had been transferred from London to Washing- 
ton, the treaty was again brought up for recon- 

1 June 23, 1807. 



ENVOY IN FRANCE, SPAIN, ENGLAND 105 

sideration by the British minister in October. 
Before much progress could be made, the famous 
" orders in council," full of menace to Ameri- 
can commerce, were passed, and remonstrances 
against them were presented by Pinkney, who 
now assumed the entire responsibility of the 
legation. 

Monroe returned to America near the close of 
1807, and soon drew up an elaborate defense of 
his diplomatic conduct in England in a letter 
to Madison, which covers ten folio pages of the 
State Papers.^ The enthusiasm with which he 
might have been received immediately after the 
Louisiana purchase was dampened by his failure 
in the English negotiations. Politicians were 
already discussing the presidential succession, 
the Republican party being divided in their 
preferences for Madison and Monroe. Jeffer- 
son endeavored to remain neutral; Wirt was in 
favor of Madison ; at length the legislature of 
Virginia settled the choice by pronouncing in 
favor of the latter. Monroe's friends acqui- 
esced. Soon afterwards Madison was placed in 
the chair of the President, and Monroe, after a 
brief interval, was reelected to the post of gov- 
ernor. It was a mark of the confidence of those 
who knew him best that thus a second time, on 
his return from a foreign land, more or less dis- 

1 February 28, 1808. 



106 JAMES MONROE 

appointed, if not under a cloud, he should be 
called to the highest office in the gift of the 
people of the State. 

I cannot discover that the failure of Monroe 
to accomplish the purpose of his mission to 
Spain and England indicates any want of in- 
telligence, assiduity, or fidelity on his part. Al- 
though there is a curious gap in the published 
papers just before his departure for England, I 
do not see any evidence that the administration 
lost their confidence in him. He failed because 
the times were not propitious for success. Spain 
was not ready to give up the Floridas. England 
was determined not to yield the right of search ; 
not even after a disastrous war would she ac- 
knowledge the wrongs against which the United 
States protested. During Monroe's short mis- 
sion to London he was obliged to be absent from 
that city several months, and he was actually 
brought into negotiations with six successive for- 
eign secretaries, besides the two special commis- 
sioners ; and these secretaries were involved in 
the perplexities which arose from prolonged hos- 
tilities with a most vigorous foe. The delays 
which were thus occasioned may have been in- 
evitable, but they were very costly. War fol- 
lowed in their train. 



CHAPTER V 

SECRETARY OF STATE AND OF WAR 

Madison became president in 1809. Mon- 
roe, who had been a rival aspirant for the office, 
was called to the post of secretary of state in 
1811, as the successor of Robert Smith of Mary- 
land. His associates in the cabinet at that time 
were Gallatin, Eustis, Paul Hamilton, and, a lit- 
tle later, William Pinkney. The war, which for 
several years had seemed inevitable, was now im- 
minent. Congress indicated a desire for posi- 
tive measures, and although the President still 
favored peace, bills were passed for augmenting 
the army and navy, for enlisting volunteers, and 
for organizing the militia. The administration 
was floated onward by the current of public 
opinion. The British " orders in council " were 
the immediate occasion of this spirit of resist- 
ance, but the troubles had begun long before. 
After hearing Mr. Perceval's public declaration 
in February, 1812, that England could not listen 
to the pretensions of neutral nations, the Amer- 
ican minister in London, Mr. Russell, wrote 
home that war could not honorably be avoided. 



108 JAMES MONROE 

This expectation soon became a fact, and war 
was declared on June 18, 1812. It was a curi- 
ous coincidence that the act of declaration was 
drawn by William Pinkney, and communicated 
to England by James Monroe, the two commis- 
sioners in London whose efforts to maintain 
peace by a reasonable treaty had been unsuc- 
cessful a few years before. 

Then followed a long period of tumult, dis- 
aster, and victory, the story of which has been 
so often told that it will here be referred to 
only in illustration of the life of Monroe. 
Moreover this part of his history is so well 
known that I cannot shed any new light upon it. 
As secretary of state his duties were not at the 
beginning more complex than the ordinary, but 
he was afterwards charged with the additional 
responsibilities of the war department, and 
thus his position became doubly powerful and 
difficult. Monroe — who was commonly desig- 
nated by his military title. Colonel Monroe, and 
who had the renown of brave service in the 
Revolution — seriously deliberated whether he 
should take the field in person, as a volunteer, if 
not to command ; but he restrained his military 
ardor. 

During; the summer and autumn of 1811 
the secretary of state was engaged in a brisk 
correspondence with Mr. Foster, the British 



SECRETARY OF STATE AND OF WAR 109 

minister in Washington. His most extended 
dispatch was that of July 23, in which he vig- 
orously defends the rights of neutrals. His 
concluding sentences have an eloquent ring. 
" It is the interest of belligerents," he argues, 
" to mitigate the calamities of war, and neutral 
powers possess ample means to promote that 
object, provided they sustain, with impartiality 
and firmness, the dignity of their station. If 
belligerents expect advantage from neutrals, 
they should leave them in the full enjoyment 
of their rights. The present war has been op- 
pressive beyond example by its duration, and 
by the desolation it has spread throughout 
Europe. It is highly important that it should 
assume at least a milder character. By the 
revocation of the French edicts, so far as they 
respected the neutral commerce of the United 
States, some advance is made towards that 
most desirable and consoling result. Let Great 
Britain follow the example. The ground thus 
gained will soon be enlarged by the concurring 
and pressing interests of all parties ; and what- 
ever is gained will accrue to the advantage of 
afflicted humanity." ^ Six months later, Jan- 
uary 14, 1812, he writes again to Mr. Foster, 
complaining that in the conduct of the British 
government it is impossible to see anything 

1 State Papers, iii. 



110 JAMES MONROE 

short of a determined hostility to the rights and 
interests of the United States. 

The relations of the United States with 
France alsa required caref id attention from the 
secretary, though they were less critical than 
those with England. Joel Barlow was commis- 
sioned as minister to the Emperor of the French, 
and the secretary, July 26, 1811, gave him ex- 
tended instructions with reference to the claims 
of the United States. France, he assumes, has 
changed her policy towards the United States, 
as the revocation of her decrees indicates, but 
much is yet to be done by her to satisfy Ameri- 
can claims. " If she wishes to profit by neutral 
commerce she must become the advocate of 
neutral rights, as well by her practice as by her 
theory." Such was the message sent to the 
emperor, and it had some influence upon his 
subsequent action. A treaty of commerce was 
proposed ; but as delay was expected in negoti- 
ating it. Barlow endeavored to secure an official 
memorandum of the agreement of the two pow- 
ers, but was obliged to be content with general 
assurances from the emperor, that the principles 
contended for were adopted and would be put in 
operation.^ 

The inauspicious opening of the war is a 
familiar story. Much of the blame for the dis- 

^ State Papers, iii. 516. 



SECRETARY OF STATE AND OF WAR 111 

asters which occurred was thrown upon the 
secretary of war, Dr. Eustis, a surgeon in the 
Revolutionary army, who at length gave way. 
Monroe acted ad interim until the appointment 
of General John Armstrong, who had held the 
rank of major in the Revolutionary army, and 
had since then been called to many conspicuous 
public stations, among them that of minister to 
France. The war did not go much better after 
the change in the secretary's office. Monroe 
looked with great suspicion on his colleague's 
conduct of affairs, and at length addressed the 
President as follows, after a short conversation 
the evening previous : ^ — 

JAMES MONROE TO PRESIDENT MADISON". 

July 25, 1813. 
You intimated that you had understood that Gen- 
eral Armstrong intended to repair to the northern 
frontiers and to direct the operations of the cam- 
paign ; and it was afterwards suggested to me that 
he would, as secretary at war, perform the duties of 
lieutenant-general. It merits consideration how far 
the exercise of such a power is strictly constitutional 
and correct in itself ; and secondly, how far it may 
affect the character of your administration and of 
those acting in it ; and thirdly, whether it is not 
otherwise liable to objection on the ground of policy. 
I shall be able to present to your consideration a 

1 Monroe MSS. 



112 JAMES MONROE 

few hints only on each of these propositions. The 
departments of the govex'nnient, being recognized by 
the Constitution, have appropriate duties under it as 
organs of the executive vrill ; they contain records of 
its transactions, and are in that sense checks on the 
Executive. If the secretary of war leaves the seat 
of government (the chief magistrate remaining there) 
and performs the duties of a general, the powers of 
the chief magistrate, of the secretary at war, and 
general are all united in the latter. There ceases to 
be a check on executive power as to military opera- 
tions ; indeed, the executive power as known to the 
Constitution is destroyed ; the whole is transferred 
from the Executive to the general at the head of the 
army. It is completely absorbed in hands where it is 
most dangerous. 

It may be said that the President is commander- 
in-chief ; that the secretary at war is his organ as to 
military operations, and that he may allow him to go 
to the army, as being well informed in military affairs, 
and act for himself. I am inclined to think that the 
President, unless he takes the command of the army 
in person, acts, in directing its movements, more as the 
executive power than as commander-in-chief. What 
would become of the secretary at war if the Presi- 
dent took command of the army, I do not know. I 
rather suppose, however, that although some of his 
powers would be transferred to the military staff 
about the President, he would, nevertheless, retain 
his appropriate constitutional character in all other 
respects. The adjutant-general would become the 



SECRETARY OF STATE AND OF WAR 113 

organ of the Executive as to military operations, but 
the secretary of war would be that for every other 
measure, Indeed for all except movements in the 
field. The Department at War would therefore still 
form some check on the Executive at the head of the 
army, but there would be none on the secretary, 
when he was general. 

On the second head, the effect it might have on 
the credit of your administration, there can be little 
doubt. If there is cause to suspect the measure on 
constitutional grounds, that circumstance alone would 
wound its credit deeply. But a total yielding of the 
power, as would be inferred, and might and pro- 
bably would be assumed, (for any act which would be 
performed or order given without the sanction of the 
chief magistrate would, in a degree, operate in that 
way), would affect it in another sense not less in- 
juriously. It is impossible for the secretary at war 
to go to the frontier, and perform the offices con- 
templated, without exercising all those of the military 
commander, especially. He would carry with him, 
of course, those of the War Department, for by the 
powers of that department would he act as general, 
and control all military and other operations, and 
being forced to act by circumstances and take his 
measures by the day, he could have no order or 
sanction from the chief magistrate. This would be 
seen by the public and imperil greatly the credit of 
the administration. If General Armstrong is the 
person most fit to command the armies, let him be 
appointed such ; there will then be a check on him in 



114 JAMES MONROE 

the chief magistrate and in the War Department. 
Does he possess in a prominent degree the public 
confidence for that trust ? Do we not know the fact 
to be otherwise, that it was with difficulty he was 
appointed a brigadier-general, and still greater diffi- 
culty that he was appointed secretary at war? 

On the ground of policy I have already made some 
remarks ; but there are other objections to it on that 
ground. If he withdraws from the seat of govern- 
ment, and takes his station with the northern troops, 
what will become of every other army, — that under 
Harrison, Pinckney, and Wilkinson, and of those 
stationed in other quarters, especially along the coast ? 
Who will direct the general movement, supervise their 
supplies, etc. ? 

I cannot close these remarks without addinsr some- 
thing in relation to myself. Stimulated by a deep 
sense of the misfortunes of our country, as well as its 
disgrace by the surrender of Hull, the misconduct of 
Van Rensselaer and Smyth, and by the total want 
of character in the northern campaign, and dreading 
its effects on your administration, on the Republican 
party and cause, I have repeatedly offered my sei'vice 
in a military station, not that I wished to take it by 
preference to my present one, which to all others I 
prefer, but from a dread of the consequences above- 
mentioned. 

I was willing to take the Department of War per- 
manently, if, in leaving ray present station, it was 
thought I might be more useful there than in a mili- 
tary command. I thought otherwise. What passed 



SECRETARY OF STATE AND OF WAR 115 

on this subject proves that I considered the Depart- 
ment of War as a very different trust from that of 
the military commander. 

You ap23eared to think I might be more useful 
with the army, as did Mr. Gallatin, with vphom I 
conferred on the subject. I was convinced that the 
duties of secretary of war and military commander 
were not only incompatible under our government, 
but that they could not be exercised by the same 
person. I was equally satisfied that the secretary at 
war could not perform, in his character as secretary, 
the duties of general of the army. The movement 
of the army must be regulated daily by events which 
occur daily, and the movement of all its parts, to be 
combined and simultaneous, must be under the control 
of the general in the field, not of the War Depart- 
ment. That this is the opinion of General Armstrong 
also, is evident from his disposition to join the army. 
He knows that here he cannot direct the movements 
of the armies. He knows also that he could not be 
appointed the lieutenant-general, and that it is only 
in his present character as secretary at war that he 
can expect to exercise his functions of general. 

As soon as General Armstrong took charge of the 
Department at War I thought I saw his plan, that is, 
after he had held it a few days. I saw distinctly 
t\iat he intended to have no grade in the army which 
should be competent to a general control of military 
operations ; that he meant to keep the whole in his 
own hands ; that each operation should be distinct 
and separate, with distinct and separate objects, and, 



116 JAMES MONROE 

of course, to be directed by liimself, not simply in 
tbe outline but detail. I anticipated mischief from 
this, because I knew that the movement could not be 
directed from this place ; I did not then anticipate 
the remedy which he had in view. 

I was animated by nuich zeal (in offering my ser- 
vices in a military station) in favor of your adminis- 
tration and the cause of free government, which I 
have long considered intimately connected together. 
I flattered myself that by my long services, and what 
the country knew of me, that I should give some 
impulse to the recruiting business, and otherwise aid 
the cause. The misfortunes and dangers attending 
the cause produced so much excitement that my zeal 
may have exposed me to the apj)earance of repulse 
and disappointment in the course things have taken. 
But, as I well know that you have justly appreciated 
my motives, and that the public cannot fail to do it, 
should any imputation of the kind alluded to be made, 
these are considerations which have no effect on my 
mind. 

Having seen into these things, from my little 
knowledge of military affairs and the management of 
the War Department for some weeks (which gave 
me a knowledge of the state of things there), and 
foreseeing some danger to your administration as 
well as to the public interest, from the causes above 
stated, I have felt it a duty which I owe to you, as 
well as to the public, to communicate to you my 
sentiments on them. I have written them in much 
truth and without reserve. You will, I am satisfied, 



SECRETARY OF STATE AND OF WAR 117 

bestow on them the consideration which they de- 
serve. 

I am, dear sir, sincerely and respectfully your 
friend, James Monroe. 

I will add that I cease to have any desire of a 
military station, having never wished one with a view 
to myself, and always under a conviction that I should 
incur risks and make sacrifices by it ; it is in conse- 
quence of feeling it strongly my duty that I entirely 
relinquish the idea. These hints are intended to 
bring to your consideration the other circumstances 
to which they allude. 

Six months later he sent to the President 

the following remonstrance against Armstrong's 

plan of a conscription, with an urgent plea for 

his removal : — 

Washington, December 27, 1813. 

The following communication from the secretary 
of the navy is the cause of this letter. 

Just before I left the office he came into it and 
informed me that General Armstrong had adopted 
the idea of a conscription, and was engaged in commu- 
nications with members of Congress, in which he en- 
deavored to reconcile them to it, stating that the mili- 
tia could not be relied on, and regular troops could not 
be enlisted. Mr. Jones was fearful, should such an 
idea get into circulation, that it would go far, with 
other circumstances, to ruin the administration. He 
told me that he had his information from General Ja- 
cock, and he authorized me to communicate it to you. 



118 JAMES MONROE 

I suspect that many other members have already 
been sounded on it, as Mr. Roberts remarked to me 
yesterday that General Armstrong had returned and 
had many projects prepared for them. 

Other circumstances which have come to my know- 
ledge ought to be known to you. Mr. Dawson called 
on me yesterday week and informed me that Mr. 
Fisk of New York intended to move on the next day 
a resolution calling on you to state by what authority 
General Armstrong had commanded the northern 
army during the late campaign ; who had discharged 
the duties of his office in his absence ; and for other 
information relating particularly to his issuing com- 
munications and exercising all the duties of secretary 
of war on the frontiers. I satisfied Mr. Dawson 
that an attack on the secretary on those grounds 
would be an attack on you, and that we must all 
support him against it, to support you. He assured 
me that he should represent it in that light to Mr. 
Fisk and endeavor to prevail on him to decline the 
measure. I presume he did so. 

General M., whom I have seen, informed me that 
this gentleman was engaged in the seduction of the 
officers of the army, particularly the young men of 
talents, promising to one the rank of brigadier, to 
another that of major-general, as he presumed without 
your knowledge ; teaching them to look to him, and 
not you, for preferment, and exciting their resent- 
ment against you if it did not take effect. He says 
that the most corrupting system is carried on through- 
out the State of New York, by placing in office, parti* 



SECRETARY OF STATE AND OF WAR 119 

cularly in the quartermaster's department, his tools 
and the sons of influential men under them as clerks, 
etc. I did not go into detail. Other remarks of his 
I will take another opportunity of communicating to 
you. It is painful to me to make this communication 
to you, nor should I do it if I did not most conscien- 
tiously believe that this man, if continued in office, 
will ruin not you and the administration only, but 
the whole Republican party and cause. He has al- 
ready gone far to do it, and it is my opinion, if he is 
not promptly removed, he will soon accomplish it. 

The letter continues in confidential terms to 
exhibit the writer's estimate of Armstrong, 

Armstrong retained his portfolio, notwith- 
standing this remonstrance from his colleague. 
The battle of Bladensburg, however, effected a 
change which no peaceful protest could bi-ing 
about. It revealed the utter inadequacy of the 
national defense, and quickened the administra- 
tion to wiser methods of carrying on the war. 
During the approach of the British to Washing- 
ton, says General Cullum, — 

" all in our army was confusion, and though Winder 
was called the commander of this motley mass, there 
was more than one volunteer generalissimo from the 
President's mounted cabinet, one of whom, the secre- 
tary of state, without Winder's knowledge, changed 
his order of battle, and another, the secretary of 



120 JAMES MONROE 

war, had a few hours before been invested by the 
President with the supreme command, thougli, for- 
tunately, his order was suspended before the battle 
began." 

From the various narratives, it appears that 
Monroe went out from Washington, on August 
20, with a slender escort of twenty-five or thirty 
dragoons, to reconnoitre the enemy's position, 
and he continued to watch their movements until 
after the battle of Bladensburg. On the 2 2d 
he informed the President that imminent danger 
threatened the capital, advised the removal of 
the government records, and suggested that ma- 
terials be in readiness for the destruction of the 
bridges. Then came the panic and the exodus 
of the inhabitants on the eve of an action. On 
the 24th, Monroe was with the President at 
General Winder's headquarters, when it was 
discovered that the enemy were marching to 
Bladensburg, and he repaired without loss of 
time to General Stansbury's position, in order 
to inform him of this movement. The accounts 
of what he did on the field are confused. Colo- 
nel Williams says there are discrepancies in the 
statements of various participants in the action 
which it is impossible to reconcile, the more 
singular because the statements were prepared 
for the information of Congress but a few weeks 
after the battle. Forty years later the recollec- 



SECRETARY OF STATE AND OF WAR 121 

tions of Richard Rush were drawn out in a letter, 
which gives a brief and vivid narrative of the 
sequence of events in that stirring week, and in- 
dicates the relation of the President and his cab- 
inet to the various movements. It is not pos- 
sible for us to read this chapter in the national 
history with composure, and it is not easy on 
the field of Bladensburg to gather laurels for 
any one ; on the other hand, I shall not attempt 
to distribute the responsibilities of the disaster. 
The immediate result of it was that Ross and 
Cockburn lost no time in entering Washington, 
and soon the public buildings were in flames ; 
the ultimate result was popular determination to 
secure a more vigorous conduct of the war, in 
which Monroe became a prominent actor.^ 

Among contemporary narratives of these 
events two drafts have been preserved of a 
narrative written or inspired by Monroe, one 
of. which will here be given. It belongs to 
the class of memoires pour servir, or semi-official 
memoranda, and will serve to give prominence 
to the secretary's proceedings at this time, as 
he would like to have them remembered. The 
date is September, 1814, a few weeks at most 
(and possibly but a few days) after the battle of 

1 On this subject see G. W. CaUum, Campaigns of 1813, 
pp. 285-288 ; J. S. Williams, Capture of Washington, p. 209 ; 
especially the letter of R. Rush on p. 274. 



122 JAMES MONROE 

Bladensburg ami the burning of the capital, — 
dire events which are referred to euphuistically 
as " the affair of the twenty-fourth." The cir- 
cumstances which placed Monroe in charge of 
the War Department ai-e here fully indicated. 

" The President, secretary of state, and attorney- 
general returned to the city of Washington on Satur- 
day, the 27tli of August, at whieli time the enemy's 
squadron were battering the fort below Alexandria, 
whose unprotected inhabitants were in consternation, 
as were those of the city and of Georgetown, and in- 
deed of all the neighboring country. After the affair 
of the 24th, Genei-al Winder rallied the princijial part 
of the militia engaged in it at Montgomery Court- 
House, where he remained on the 25th and part of 
the 26th, preparing for a new movement, the neces- 
sity of which he anticipated. The secretary of state 
joined him ; a portion of the forces from Baltimore 
at Montgomery Court-House on the 25th had returned 
to that city. About midday on the 26th the general 
having received intelligence that the enemy were in 
motion towards Bladensburg, probably with intention 
to visit Baltimore, formed his troops without delay, 
and conunenced his march towards Ellicott's Mills, 
with intention to hang on the enemy's left flank in 
case Baltimore was their object, and of meeting them 
at the mills if they took that route. Late in the eve- 
ning of that day he resolved to proceed in person to 
Baltimore, to prepare that city for the attack with 
which it was menaced. As commander of the mill- 



SECRETARY OF STATE AND OF WAR 123 

tary district, it was his duty to look to every part and 
to make the necessary preparation for its defense, 
and none appeared then to be in greater danger or to 
have a stronger claim to his attention than the city 
of Baltimore. He announced this, his resolution, to 
Generals Stansbury and Smith, instructing them to 
watch the movements of the enemy, and to act with 
the force under their command as circumstances 
might require, and departed about 7 p. m. The 
secretary of state remained with Generals Stansbury 
and Smith. 

" The President [had] crossed the Potomac on the 
evening of the 24th, accompanied by the attorney- 
general and General Mason, and remained on the 
south side of the river a few miles above the lower 
falls, on the 25th. On the 26th he recrossed the 
Potomac, and went to Brookville, in the neighbor- 
hood of Montgomery Court-House, with intention to 
join General Winder. 

" On the 27th the secretary of state, having heard 
that the enemy had evacuated the city, notified it, by 
exjDress, to the President, and advised immediate re- 
turn to the city for the purpose of reestablishing the 
government there. He joined the President on the 
same day at Brookville, and he, accompanied by the 
secretary of state and attorney-general, set out im- 
mediately for Washington, where they arrived at five 
in the afternoon. The enemy's squadron was then 
battering Fort Washington, which was evacuated and 
blown up by the commander, on that evening, without 
the least resistance. The unprotected inhabitants of 



124 JAMES MONROE 

Alexandria in consternation capitulated, and those 
of Georgetown and the city were preparing to follow 
the example. Such was the state of affairs when the 
President entered the city on the evening of the 27th. 
There was no force organized for its defense. The 
secretary of war was at Fredericktown, and General 
Winder at Baltimore. The effect of the late disaster 
on the whole Union and the world was anticipated. 
Prompt measures were indispensable. Under these 
circumstances, the President requested Mr. Monroe 
to take charge of the Department of War, and com- 
mand of the District ad interim,, with which he imme- 
diately complied. On the 28th in the morning, the 
President, with Mr. Monroe and the attorney-general, 
visited the navy yard, the arsenal at Greenleaf's 
Point, and passing along the shore of the Potomac, 
up towards Georgetown, Mr. Monroe, as secretary 
of war and military commander, adopted measures, 
under sanction of the President, for the defense of 
the city and of Georgetown. As they passed near 
the capital he was informed that the citizens of 
Washington were preparing to send a deputation to 
the British commander for the purpose of capitu- 
lating. 

" He forbade the measure. It was then remarked 
that the situation of the inhabitants was deplorable ; 
there being no force prepared for their defense, their 
houses might be burnt down. Mr. Monroe then ob- 
served that he had been charged by the President 
with authority to take measures for the defense of 
the city, and that it should be defended ; that if any 



SECRETARY OF STATE AND OF WAR 125 

deputation moved towards the enemy it should be re- 
pelled by the bayonet. He took immediate measures 
for mounting a battery at Greenleaf 's Point, another 
near the bridge, a third at the windmill point, and 
sent an order to Colonel Winder, who was in charge 
of some cannon, on the opposite shore above the ferry 
landing, to move three of the pieces to the lower end 
of Mason's Island, and the others some distance 
below that point on the Virginia shore, to cooperate 
with the batteries on the Maryland side. Colonel 
Winder refused to obey the order, on which Mr. 
Monroe passed the river, and riding to the colonel 
gave the order in person. The colonel replied that 
he did not know Mr. Monroe as secretary of war or 
commanding general. Mr. Monroe then stated that 
he acted under the authority of the President, and 
that he must either obey the order or leave the field. 
The colonel prefen-ed the latter." ^ 

The following letter from William Robinson, 
a political opponent of Monroe, was written in 
1823, to counteract certain disparaging reports 
which were abroad in reference to the defense 
at Washington : ^ — 

" I have it in perfect recollection that on the morn- 
ing of the 27th August I met with Colonel Monroe 
at Snell's bridge on the route to Baltimore. The 
army was in march from Montgomery Court House, 
where it had reassembled after the battle of Bladens- 
burg; much confusion prevailed in consequence of 
1 Monroe MSS. ^ Gouverneur MSS. 



126 JAMES MONROE 

the recent defeat, and the disorganization and dis- 
persion of the officers of the government. Colonel 
Monroe expressed great anxiety for the immediate 
return of the President and high officers of govern- 
ment to Washington city, with a view to the restora- 
tion of order and effective resistance of the enemy. 
He was pleased to intrust me with an open letter, or 
billet, to that effect, ordering my utmost dispatch in 
search of the President, whom I found at the village 
of Brookville, where he was soon found by the colo- 
nel, and both proceeded to Washington. I then pro- 
ceeded to Montgomery Court House, where I found 
Jones, the secretary of the navy, and delivered a 
summons for an immediate attendance at Washing- 
ton. General Armstrong had gone to Fredericktown 
in Maryland, and not considering my orders reached 
so far, I returned to Georgetown in the evening. 
The sentiment common in the army was so decidedly 
inimical to General Armstrong, that I feel assured 
that his person would have been endangered had ha 
attempted to join us." 

Whatever may have been Monroe's course on 
the battle-field at Blaclensburg, there can be no 
doubt that, when he assumed the duties of secre- 
tary of war, vigor was at once infused into all 
the military operations. Washington was de- 
fended ; Baltimore was rescued, and the national 
banner continued to wave over Fort McHenry ; 
the dispatches sent to Jackson in the southwest 
had the ring of determination and authority. 



SECRETARY OF STATE AND OF WAR 127 

Monroe appears at this time in his best aspect, 
enthusiastic, determined, confident of the popu- 
lar support, daring. " Hasten your militia to 
New Orleans," he wrote in rousing dispatches to 
the governors near the seat of war in Louisiana ; 
" do not wait for this government to arm them ; 
put all the arms you can find into their hands ; 
let every man bring his rifle with him ; we shall 
see you paid." ^ 

Having thus indicated Monroe's relations to 
the war, it does not seein necessary to dwell on 
the innumerable details which pertain to that 
period. 

^ Schouler comes to the defense of Monroe. See his note, 
Hist, of U. a. ii. pp. 409, and the text, p. 414, 459. 



CHAPTER VI 

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 

Monroe held the office of president of the 
United States during two full terms, from 1817 
to 1825. It has already been stated that eight 
years previous to his first election he was se- 
riously considered as a candidate, when Madison 
received the nomination. He was nearly fifty- 
nine years old when first called to the presi- 
dency, about the age at which Jefferson and Mad- 
ison attained the same position ; Washington 
became President a little younger, at fifty-seven, 
and John Adams a little older, at sixty-one. 

At his first election, Monroe received 183 
votes in the electoral college against 34 which 
were given for Kufus King, the candidate of the 
Federalists ; at his second election, but one elec- 
toral vote was given against him, and that was 
cast for John Quincy Adams. No one but 
Washington was ever reelected to the highest 
office in the land with so near an approach to 
unanimity. 

Daniel D. Tompkins was Vice-President dur- 
ing both presidential terms. 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 129 

Let us now ask on whose counsel the new 
President coukl rely and whose opposition he 
must expect. Jefferson and Madison had never 
failed to be his friends, whatever slight estrange- 
ment may have arisen, and they were now in the 
mood of cordial cooperation. The old Federal- 
ists, no longer bound by party allegiance, had 
not forgotten their former animosities. The 
coldness of John Adams was not likely to be 
seriously modified, even though his son came 
into the cabinet. Jackson, already extremely 
popular, was ready to volunteer suggestions on 
the conduct of civil affairs. Henry Clay was a 
leader in the House of Representatives, where 
for several years (with an interruption) he had 
been the speaker. Richard Rush was conspicu- 
ous. Benton was soon to be prominent, but he 
was not yet a man of national mark, and his 
thirty years' reminiscences begin with 1820. 
Webster had been for two terms a member of 
the House, but was now determined to pursue a 
professional life, and was about to come forward 
as a constitutional lawyer in the Dartmouth Col- 
lege case. 

The cabinet, as finally made up after various 
delays, included four men who remained in it 
during both presidential terms, — J. Q. Adams, 
J. C. Calhoun, W. H. Crawford, and W. Wirt, 
— respectively appointed secretary of state, sec- 



130 JAMES MONROE 

retary of war, secretary of the treasury, and 
attorney-general. The Post Office was first di- 
rected by R. J. Meigs, and then by J. McLean. 
The Navy Department remained for a time 
under Mr. Madison's secretary, Benjamin W. 
Crovvninshield, but he was soon succeeded by 
Smith Thompson.^ In all political affairs, as 
distinguished from administrative duties, the 
four first named were undoubtedly the strong 
men. They were younger than Monroe : Adams 
at that time being fifty years old; Crawford, 
forty-four; Calhoun, thirty-five; and Wirt, 
forty-five ; and they represented different ideas of 
public policy, as well as competing claims to the 
presidential succession. Their personal rivalries 
were not concealed. Adams, when he became 
secretary of state, was, perhaps, the most dis- 
tinguished American then actively engaged in 
public life. He took this office thoroughly 
trained for its responsibilities. He had been 
favored with a liberal academic education, and 
had participated to an unusual extent in the 
conduct of affairs. At the age of eleven he 
went with his father to Paris, when the latter 
was envoy to France. At fourteen, this " ma- 
ture youngster " (as Mr. Morse has called him) 
accompanied Mr. Dana to St. Petersburg, in 
the post of private secretary. Later on he was 

1 Thompson was followed by S. L. Southard. 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 131 

successively minister to Holland, Prussia, Rus- 
sia, and England. He secured a treaty of am- 
ity between Prussia and the United States, was 
one of the commissioners who negotiated the 
treaty of Ghent, and was afterwards one of 
those who signed the commercial treaty with 
England. He was thus a participant in the di- 
plomatic questions evolved by two wars, — the 
Revolution and the war of 1812. Inheritinsr 
strong intellectual qualities which have been 
conspicuous in his descendants, governed by ab- 
solute independence in the formation of his opin- 
ions, and sustained in the popular good-will by 
his unquestioned integrity and patriotism, he 
was the man of all who could be thought of to 
give wisdom, weight, and dignity to the cabinet 
of which he became the head. The most serious 
questions of Monroe's administration arose in 
the State Department, and it was fortunate that 
its affairs were guided by a statesman of such 
varied information and experience. The won- 
derfid diary, which Adams, when a child, began 
at the instance of his father, is rich in its mem- 
oranda of this period, and the eulogy which he 
delivered on the death of Monroe remains to this 
day the best history of his political standing. 

Calhoun's career had been very different from 
that of Adams. He was called to the cabinet 
while comparatively a young man, fifteen years 



132 JAMES MONROE 

the junior of the secretary of state. His poli- 
tical experience had been restricted to that of a 
representative in Congress. From the time of 
his election to the House, he was felt to be a 
power. Important positions were assigned to 
him, and his words bore the weight of authority. 
But although the public lives of these two men 
were so different, and although they ultimately 
became representatives of bitter antagonisms, 
they were not unlike in some marked peculiari- 
ties. In early days both were surrounded by 
strong religious influences. Calhoun was born 
and bred under the rigid orthodoxy characteris- 
tic of the Irish Presbyterians, to whose faith bot^i 
his father and his mother and their parents ad- 
hered. Adams, as his latest biographer tells 
us, remained through life " a complete and thor- 
ough Puritan, wonderfully little modified by 
times and circumstances." Both were graduated 
in New England colleges, one at Harvard, and 
the other at Yale. Both were independent 
thinkers, and true to their convictions, however 
unpopular. One became a leading opponent of 
the encroachments of slavery, the other a leader 
in nullification; but during the administration 
of Monroe, and long afterwards, Callioun was 
quite as outspoken as Adams in his love for the 
Union. Both were loyal admirers of the Presi- 
dent into whose council they were called, and 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 133 

they remained on terms of intimacy with him as 
long as he lived. Both were honest, fearless, 
powerful, independent statesmen. After Mon- 
roe's retirement, one became President, the other 
Vice-President. Both remained in public ser- 
vice to the very close of life, Calhoun dying 
while senator, and Adams while a representa- 
tive. Both are credited by their biographers 
with that sagacity which points out in advance 
the dangers covered up by a political measure. 
Calhoun, says Von Hoist, " reads the future as 
if the book of fate were lying wide open before 
him." Adams, says Morse, " discerned in pass- 
ing events ' the title-page to a great tragic vol- 
ume,' " and " few men at that day read the 
future so clearly." 

Unlike the two ministers already named, 
Crawford was what has been termed " a self- 
made man." He was continued in charge of 
the Treasury Department, to which, after his 
return from the embassy to France and after a 
brief service as secretary of war, he had been 
called by Madison. In the congressional cau- 
cus which nominated Monroe, Crawford was 
the chief opposing candidate ; and a shrewd 
observer, who was a member of that body, has 
recorded his opinion that when Congress first 
assembled a majority of Republican members 
were for Crawford. But the nomination was 



lU JAMES MONROE 

postponed from time to time, and at length, 
through the influence of Madison or other 
causes, sixty-five votes were cast for Monroe 
and fifty-four for his opponent.^ Crawford, 
however, continued to be regarded as in the line 
of succession to the presidency, and received a 
part of the electoral vote in 1824, 

William Wirt was the choice of the Presi- 
dent for the office of attorney-general. His 
biographer, John P. Kennedy, in the vivid por- 
trait with which he begins the memoir, dwells 
on the Teutonic aspect of Wirt, not unlike to 
Goethe's. Born in Maryland, he was of Ger- 
man origin, his father having migrated to this 
country from Switzerland many years before 
the Revolution, and his mother being a German. 
Previously a prominent advocate in the courts 
of Virginia, he won a national reputation by 
the part he took in the prosecution of Aaron 
Burr. Having a limited education and a very 
moderate library to begin with, he had risen by 
his talents to a conspicuous rank as a lawyer 
and as a writer. He had recently completed his 
memoir of Patrick Henry. He came into office 
as the personal friend of Monroe, after it was 
decided that Richard Rush should go to Eng- 
land, and he was attracted to the attorney-gen- 

^ Many other details in respect to the nomination are given 
in Hammond's Political History. 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 135 

eralship not so much on account of the political 
preferment as because of the professional stand- 
ing which it gave him. Unlike Adams, Cal- 
houn, and Crawford, he did not aspire to the 
presidency. To William Pope's suggestions he 
replied, "I am already higher than I had any 
reason to expect, and I should be light-headed 
indeed, because I have been placed on this 
knoll, where I feel safe, to aspire at the moun- 
taiii's pinnacle in order to be blown to atoms. 
Therefore let this matter rest." And so it 
rested. Wirt remained in office twelve years, 
and although he did not confine his professional 
labors to the service of the government, he ex- 
alted the station which he held by an assiduous 
discharge of all his duties with ability, learning, 
and success. 

Among those who were thought of for the 
cabinet, Henry Clay, one of Monroe's support- 
ers for the presidency, was conspicuous. He de- 
clined the offer of an appointment as secretary 
of war, but his " friends did not conceal their 
disappointment that he was not invited to take 
the office of secretary of state ; nor did he dis- 
guise his dissatisfaction at the appointment of 
Mr. Adams ; " so writes Josiah Quincy. There 
are many subsequent indications of Clay's hos- 
tility to the administration. William Wirt, for 
example, in counseling with the President in re- 



136 JAMES MONROE 

gard to certain allowances claimed for Clay's 
diplomatic services, where the usage of the gov- 
ernment was not clearly established, remarks as 
follows : " I am aware of the delicacy which 
connects itself with this question considered per- 
sonally as it relates to you ; but it is a delicacy 
with a double aspect : if you reject the claim, 
Mr. Clay and his friends may impute it to hos- 
tility to him, on account of the political part 
which he has occasionally taken against you ; 
and, on the other hand, if you admit the claim 
and it shall be thought unjust, it may, and by 
some most probably will, be imputed to a dread 
of his further opposition and a wish to bribe 
him to silence. The best way will be to con- 
sider the question abstractly without any man- 
ner of reference to the character of the claimant, 
and this I shall endeavor to do." It is one of 
the curious incidents of political life, that at the 
close of Monroe's administration the vote of 
Clay's friends made Adams president, and Ad- 
ams made Clay his secretary of state. 

Jackson had formed a personal attachment 
to Monroe in 1815, and welcomed his accession 
to the presidency partly on this account, partly 
because he disliked Crawford. Several letters 
exchanged by Jackson and the President elect 
have long been familiar to the public. They 
indicate that he, as well as Clay and Shelby, 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 137 

declined the office of secretary of war. They 
also show that Jackson felt quite at liberty to 
make confidential suggestions in respect to can- 
didates for the cabinet. For the War Depart- 
ment he urgently recommended Colonel W. H. 
Drayton, late of the army ; Shelby he opposed. 
The selection of Adams he regarded as the best 
that could be made for the Department of State. 
The letters of Monroe to Jackson at this junc- 
ture show the principles on which the former 
meant to select his chief advisers, and also the 
attitude which he proposed to hold in respect to 
the Federalists. In the formation of an admin- 
istration, he thought that the heads of depart- 
ments (there being four) should be taken froni 
the four great sections of the Union, the East, 
the Middle, the South, and the West, unless 
great emergencies and transcendent talents 
should justify a departure from this plan ; and 
he infimated pointedly that in selecting candi- 
dates he should act for the country, and not 
" for the aggrandizement of any one." The 
Federalists he regarded as thoroughly routed, 
the great body of them having become Repub- 
licans. To preserve the Republican party and 
prevent the revival of the Federal, was to be 
his aim as a politician, for he did not regard the 
existence of parties as necessary to free govern- 
ments. Hence he favored moderation toward 



138 JAMES MONROE 

those who had acted with the Federal party, 
and even a generous policy. The embarrassing 
question was, how far to indulge that spirit in 
the outset. On the other hand, the course pursued 
by him when James Kent was proposed to him 
for the vacant position on the supreme bench 
does not show that he had entirely forgotten his 
animosity toward the Federalists. Wirt urged 
the appointment of Kent, and Calhoun concurred 
with him, but the President hesitated, and finally 
Smith Thompson received the nomination. 

The principal subjects which engrossed the 
attention of Monroe during his two terms of 
office were the defense of the Atlantic seaboard, 
the promotion of internal improvements, the 
Seminole war, the acquisition of Florida, the 
Missouri compromise, and the resistance to for- 
eign interference in American affairs, this last 
being formulated in that famous declaration 
which is known as the Monroe Doctrine, It may 
also be added that his administration began and 
ended with a sort of pageantry, which is always 
attractive to the masses as it moves over the 
scene, though not always approved in the cooler 
criticism of democratic second thoughts. The 
first of these demonstrations was a presidential 
tour, in two parts, to the north and to the south ; 
the second was a national reception of Lafayette, 
the country's guest. 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 139 

With the present facilities in locomotion, 
presidential journeys are not uncommon, and 
have rarely any political significance ; but in 
that generation it was a noteworthy event to 
see and hear the chief magistrate on his travels. 
There is little doubt that one of the principal 
objects of this journey was to conciliate the 
Federalists, whose opposition to this and the 
preceding administi'ation was strong ; but the 
primary and ostensible purpose was to examine 
the fortifications and harbors of the United 
States. For this reason the President was ac- 
companied by General Joseph G. Swift, chief 
engineer of the army, and not by the members 
of his cabinet. The choice of an escort was 
sagacious. Swift was a New Englander of New 
Englanders, the first graduate at West Point, 
and a friend of Eustis, late secretary of war, 
whom he had accompanied from Boston to 
Washington in 1809, and " inducted into the 
mysteries of his new vocation." By his skill 
in protecting New York during the war he had 
gained the applause of a " benefactor to the 
city," and had received more substantial proofs 
of the gratitude of the people. He was there- 
fore a valuable companion in a professional as 
well as in a social aspect.^ 

^ See General G. W. Cullum's Campaigns and Engineers of 
1812. 



140 JAMES MONROE 

Three months and a half were expended on 
the journey. The party visited the chief cities 
of the Atlantic seaboard as far as Portland, 
traversed New Hampshire, Vermont, and New 
York, went West as far as Detroit, and then 
returned to Washington by way of Zanesville, 
Pittsburgh, and Fredericktown. Everywhere 
there were receptions and speeches, dinners and 
assemblies, and the record of all these doings 
was compiled and published in a duodecimo vol- 
ume by an ardent admirer of the administration 
in Connecticut. The President's first address 
was at Baltimore on June 2, 1817. There he 
indicated, in the following language, his double 
aim to secure defense against external foes, and 
to seek the promotion of internal harmony. 

" Congress has appropriated large suras of money 
for the fortification of our coast and inland frontier, 
and for the establishment of naval dock yards and 
building a navy. It is proper that these works should 
be executed with judgment, fidelity, and economy ; 
much depends in the execution on the Executive, to 
whom extensive power is given as to the general ar- 
rangement, and to whom the superintendence exclu- 
sively belongs. You do me justice in believing that 
it is to enable me to discharge these duties with the 
best advantage to my country that I have undertaken 
this tour. 

" From the increased harmony of public opinion, 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 141 

founded on the successful career of a government 
which has never been equaled, and which promises, 
by a future development of its faculties, to augment 
in an eminent degree the blessings of this favored 
people, I unite with you in all the anticipations which 
you have so justly suggested." 

A letter which was written by Crawford to 
Gallatin, after the close of the President's tour, 
is a good indication of the politician's view of 
the results of so great an expenditure of time 
and force. ^ 

" The President's tour through the East has pro- 
duced something like a political jubilee. They were, 
in the land of steady habits, at least for the time, ' all 
Federalists, all Republicans.' If the bondmen and 
bondwomen were not set free, and individual debts 
released, a general absolution of political sins seems 
to have been mutually agreed upon. Whether the 
parties will not relapse on the approach of their 
spring elections in Massachusetts can only be deter- 
mined by the event. 

" In this world there seems to be nothing free from 
alloy. Whilst the President is lauded for the good 
he has done in the East by having softened party 
asperity and by the apparent reconciliation which, for 
the moment, seems to have been effected between 
materials the most heterogeneous, the restless, the 
carping, the malevolent men in the Ancient Dominion 

1 October 27, 1817. 



142 JAMES MONROE 

are ready to denounce him for his apparent acquies- 
cence in the seeming man-worship with which he was 
venerated by the wise men of the East. 

" Seriously, I think the President has lost as much 
as he has gained by this tour, at least in popularity. 
In health, however, he seems to have been a great 
gainer." 

With these views of the critical Georgian may 
be placed in contrast the genial reflections of an 
admirer at the North. ^ 

" For the political father of a great, a growing, and 
an intelligent people, freemen by birth, and resolved 
to be free, to witness such striking proofs of their 
fidelity and admiration, must have made a deep, a 
lasting impression upon his mind. He must be some- 
thing 7nore or less than man, who would view such a 
scene with apathy and indifference. A janizary of 
Turkey may offer up hosannahs to the Sultan until 
the javelin which the Sultan wields ends his life and 
his plaudits at a stroke ; an eastern despot may be 
adored by his slaves, who mingle groans of distress 
with the accents of praise ; European princes may be 
followed by a famishing peasantry, whose huzzas 
are feeble from want of food ; but it is the happiness 
of the President of the United States to be thronged 
by an assemblage of happy freemen, acknowledging 
their gratitude to the only ' legitimate ' ruler of a 
great nation ; legitimate, because he derives his power 
from the voice of the people he governs." 

1 Waldo, p. 51. 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 143 

The northern trip was followed by one to the 
Southern States in 1819. The President went 
as far south as Augusta, then through the Chero- 
kee region to Nashville, and afterwards to Louis- 
ville and Lexington. 

Before a year had passed there was a renewal 
of hostilities with the Seminole Indians. The 
war was brief and decisive, but the enmities 
which it excited among those who took part in 
conducting it lasted many years. This contro- 
versy, long dormant, burst forth with fury 
when Jackson was a candidate for a second 
presidential term. It is to his life that this 
story belongs, and the reader may readily find 
the particulars in the pages of Parton and Sum- 
ner. 

While Florida was still a Spanish domain^ 
Jackson was sent to Southern Georgia to put a 
stop to the Indian outrages. Before going he 
addressed a letter to Monroe (January 6, 1818) 
intimating that, in his opinion, a vigorous policy 
ought to be pursued. Amelia Island should be 
seized " at all hazards," and " simultaneously the 
whole of East Florida, to be held as an indem- 
nity for the outrages of Spain upon the property 
of our citizens." It is not clear whether he re- 
ceived an authoritative answer from the Presi- 
dent to this important programme, for there are 
discrepancies in the testimony not now explica- 



144 JAMES MONROE 

ble. But lie acted as if he possessed the com- 
plete support of the authorities in Washington. 
He crossed the Florida line in pursuit of the 
fugitive red men ; he captured and garrisoned a 
fortress on Spanish territory ; he seized Pensa- 
cola and captured the Barrancas ; and he ap- 
proved the summary execution of Ambrister and 
Arbuthnot, subjects of Great Britain, who were 
charged with exciting the Indians against the 
Americans. By all this he brought the United 
States to the verge of war with Spain, and like- 
wise offended England. War might have been 
produced, said Lord Castlereagh to Mr. Kush, 
" if the ministry had but held up a finger." 

When Jackson returned to the North it was 
a question how far he should be sustained by 
the administration. Adams wrote a diplomatic 
paper vindicating him, the House of Represen- 
tatives sustained him, and there was a general 
acquiescence in the course he had pursued. 
But long afterwards, in the spring of 1830, it 
became a matter of partisan controversy to 
determine the attitude of Monroe and of the 
various members of his cabinet in respect to the 
inception and progress of this brief and spirited 
campaign. The recollections of Monroe, Cal- 
houn, Adams, Crawford, and others were ap- 
pealed to. The point of the controversy was, 
whether in January, 1818, Mr. Rhea, a member 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 145 

of Congress and a friend of Jackson's, had com- 
municated to the latter hy authority the wishes 
of Monroe in respect to the opening campaign. 
Monroe did not acknowledge that he had given 
any such authority ; Jackson claimed that he 
did give it ; but " the Rhea letter," said to have 
been written with Monroe's assent, was never 
produced. In the public correspondence just 
after the war, Monroe appears to deprecate the 
course which had been pursued by Jackson, 
though not to the extent of blaming him. " In 
transcending the limit of your orders," he says, 
" you acted on your own responsibility, on facts 
and circumstances which were unknown to the 
government when the orders were given . . . 
and which you thought imposed on you the 
measure as an act of patriotism, essential to the 
honor and interests of your country." He also 
calls the general's attention to some parts of 
dispatches, " written in haste and under the 
pressure of fatigue and infirmity, and in a spirit 
of conscious rectitude," which may make trouble, 
and he suggests their correction. " If you think 
proper to authorize the secretary or myself to 
correct those passages, it will be done with care, 
though should you have copies, as I presume you 
have, you had better do it yourself." A con- 
venient summary of these letters was printed for 
Calhoun in 1831, but copies of it are now scarce. 



146 JAMES MONROE 

The endeavor of the United States to get 
possession of the Floridas by purchase reached 
a successful issue February 22, 1819, when a 
treaty was concluded at Washington through 
the negotiations of John Q. Adams, secretary 
of state, and Luis de Onis, the Spanish envoy. 
Notwithstanding opposition from Mr. Clay and 
others, the treaty was ratified unanimously by 
the Senate, and thus the control of the entire 
Atlantic and Gulf seaboard from the St. Croix 
to the Sabine was secured to this government. 

During most of Monroe's administration, 
Richard Rush was the American minister in 
London, and his relations were chiefly with 
Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Canning. Rush was 
careful in his diary and correspondence, and 
has published much that is interesting on the 
aspect of American affairs between 1818 and 
1825. The instructions under which he acted 
had the sanction of Madison, as well as of Mon- 
roe and Adams. The two subjects which he 
brouofht forward in one of his first interviews 
with the British minister were, an alleged viola- 
tion of the treaty of Ghent by the carrying off 
of slaves in English ships at the close of the 
war, and a neglect to carry out exactly the com- 
mercial convention of 1815. He afterwards 
told how the news of Jackson's pursuit was 
received in the diplomatic circles of the Court 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 147 

of St. James. " We have had nothing of late 
so exciting : it smacks of war," said one of the 
plenipotentiaries. Subsequently the old subject 
of impressment, and the subject, ever old and 
ever new, of the Newfoundland fisheries, were 
matters of negotiation. 

The admission of Missouri to the Union was 
the theme of violent controversy from 1819 to 
1821, resulting in the famous Compromise, the 
repeal of which more than thirty years later 
again agitated the country. Here was the be- 
ginning of that wandering in the wilderness 
for forty years which resulted in emancipation. 
The particular record of the debates, led by 
Rufus King upon one side and John Randolph 
upon the other, must be studied in the legislative 
rather than the administrative history of the 
times. The crisis in this debate occurred March 
1, 1820, when Congress agreed to abandon the 
idea of prohibiting slavery in Missouri and to 
insist upon its prohibition in the public territory 
north of the line 36° 30'. This determined the 
admission of Missouri, though it did not close 
the discussion. It came up again in the follow- 
ing year and resulted in a second compromise. 
During the winter of 1819-20 the excitement in 
Washington was intense. " At our evening 
parties," says Mr. Adams, " we hear of no- 
thing but the Missouri question and Mr. King's 



148 JAMES MONROE 

speeches." He records also the conversation 
which he held with Calhoun, indicating in both 
that prophetic sagacity to which reference has 
been made, and also their divergence on a funda- 
mental principle which grew wider and wider as 
long as they lived. 

Writing under the date of February 15, 1820, 
a fortnight before the adoption of the Compro- 
mise, Monroe in a private letter declared his con- 
viction that " the majority of States, of physical 
force, and eventually of votes in both houses, 
would be on the side of the non-slave-holding 
States." He thought it probable that they 
would succeed in their purpose or the Union be 
dissolved. " I consider this," he continued, " as 
an atrocious attempt in certain leaders to grasp 
at power, and being very artfully laid is more 
likely to succeed than any effort having the 
same object in view ever made before." 

The latter portion of this letter is as fol- 
lows : ^ — 

" As to the part which I may act, in all circum- 
stances in which I may be placed, I have not made 
up my mind, nor shall I until the period arrives 
when it will be my duty to act, and then I shall weigh 
well the injunctions of the Constitution, which, when 
clear and distinct to my mind, will be conclusive 
with me. The next consideration will be a fixed and 

1 February 15, 1820. 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 149 

an unalterable attachment to the Union ; my decided 
opinion is, that all States composing our Union, new 
as well as old, must have equal rights, ceding to the 
general government an equal share of power, and 
retaining to themselves the like ; that they cannot be 
incorporated into the Union on different principles or 
conditions. Whether the same restraint exists on the 
power of the general government, as to Territories, 
in their incipient and territorial state, is a question 
on which my mind is clearly decided. By the Con- 
stitution, Congress has power to dispose of and make 
all needful rules and regulations respecting the terri- 
tory and other property belonging to the United 
States, with a provision that nothing in this Constitu- 
tion should be so construed as to prejudice any claims 
of the United States, or of any particular State. This 
provision is the only check on the power of Congress, 
and (referring only to the old controversy between 
the United States and individual States respecting 
vacant lands within their charter of limits, whose 
relative claims it was intended to preserve) has no 
operation, as I presume, on the present case. The 
power itself applies to the territory ceded by individ- 
ual States to the United States, and to none other. 
In such portions of the territory so ceded as are 
altogether uninhabited, the people who move there, 
under any ordinance of Congress, have no rights in 
the territorial state except such as they may acquire 
under the ordinance. The question, therefore, cannot 
occur in regard to them. If there is any restraint, 
then, on this power in Congress, it must be found in 



150 JAMES MONROE 

other parts of the Constitution. Slavery is recognized 
by the Constitution as five to three ; but is not the 
right thus recognized that only of the States in which 
the slaves are, as the measure or rate of representation 
in the House of Representatives and for direct taxes ? 
Is it not a right to the slaves themselves, not as I 
presume to their owners, out of the State in which 
they are ? By another clause it is provided that if 
slaves run away they may be pursued, demanded, 
and brought back ; this is a right of the slave-holding 
States, and of the owners of slaves living in them, 
and would apply to slaves running into Territories as 
well as into States. As slavery is recognized by the 
Constitution it is evidently unjust to restrain the 
owner from carrying his slave into a Territory and 
retaining his right to him there, but whether the 
power to do this has not been granted is the point on 
which I have doubts, and on which I shall be glad to 
receive your opinion. If I can be satisfied that the 
Constitution forbids restraint, I shall, of course, obey 
it in all cases. 

" Should a bill pass admitting Missouri, subject 
to such restraint, I should have no difficulty in the 
course to be pursued, nor should I in any future case 
respecting the admission of any other State. Arkan- 
sas, being organized without restriction, and people 
having moved there, as is understood, stands on the 
most favorable ground, on constitutional principles, 
in the view stated above. 

" Considerations of injustice and impolicy also merit 
much attention, and will have their weight with me. 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 151 

I do not think, supposing the constitutional right to 
exist, that Congress ought to confine the slaves within 
such narrow limits, even of territories, as might tend 
to make them a burden on the old States. How far 
I may go on this principle will merit great considera- 
tion. If the right to impose the restraint exists, and 
Congress should pass a law for it, to reject it, as to 
the whole of the unsettled territory, might, with ex- 
isting impressions in other questions, affect our sys- 
tem. This I should look to with a just sensibility to 
the part likely to be injured." 

Mr. Adams, in recording his impressions of 
the entire discussion, thus defines his own posi- 
tion : — 

" I have favored this Missouri compromise, believ- 
ing it to be all that could be effected under the pre- 
sent Constitution, and from extreme unwillingness 
to put the Union at hazard. But perhaps it would 
have been a wiser and bolder course to have persisted 
in the restriction on Missouri, until it should have 
terminated in a convention of the States to revise and 
amend the Constitution. This would have produced 
a new Union of thirteen or fourteen States unpolluted 
with slavery, with a great and glorious object — that 
of rallying to their standard the other States by the 
universal emancipation of their slaves. If the Union 
must be dissolved, slavery is precisely the question 
upon which it ought to break. For the present, how- 
ever, this contest is laid asleep." 

The promotion of internal improvements and 



152 JAMES MONROE 

the defense of the seaboard had naturally come 
to the front as important questions during 
the momentous events of Madison's adminis- 
tration. Monroe took up these matters in ear- 
nest when the chief responsibility of guiding 
the national policy devolved upon him, but it 
was not until 1822 that he felt called upon 
to announce his views in an elaborate paper. 
He vetoed the Cumberland Road bill on May 4, 
and he simultaneously submitted to Congress 
an exposition of his views. His long state- 
ment concludes with the assertion that Con- 
gress has not the right under the Constitution 
to adopt and execute a system of internal im- 
provements, but that such a power, if it could 
be secured by a constitutional amendment, 
would have the happiest effect on all the great 
interests of the Union ; though, in his opinion, 
it should be confined to great national works, 
leaving to the separate States all minor im- 
provements. 

Near the close of Monroe's presidency, La- 
fayette made his celebrated visit to the United 
States as " the nation's guest." These two men 
had been friends from the days when they were 
both in the Revolutionary army. When La- 
fayette was a prisoner in Olmiitz and Monroe 
was American minister in France, efforts were 
made by the latter to secure the former's re- 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 153 

lease. Several letters are before me^ which 
relate to the negotiations. Funds were sent by 
Washington to Monroe for the benefit of Ma- 
dame Lafayette. As the United States had no 
minister near the Austrian court, the media- 
tion of the Danish government was solicited by 
Monroe. Carefully covered references to " the 
friend in question " were addressed by Monroe 
to Mr. Masson, aide-de-camp of Lafayette. But 
the details of this story belong elsewhere. They 
are here alluded to because they indicate the 
recollections shared by these two patriots when 
they met more than a quarter of a century after- 
wards, and Monroe, as President and as friend, 
welcomed Lafayette to the hospitality of the 
United States. 

On May 10, 1824, the French Marquis, " with 
feelings of respectful, affectionate, and patriotic 
gratitude," accepted the invitation of Congress, 
and promised to visit " the beloved land " of 
which it had been his " happy lot to become an 
early soldier and an adopted son." Early in 
October, after his landing in this country, the 
members of Monroe's cabinet were in doubt as 
to the etiquette which should be observed at the 
reception of this illustrious visitor in Washing- 
ton, and also as to the attitude which the ad- 
ministration should take during the progress of 
^ Gouvemeur MSB. 



154 JAMES MONROE 

his journey. Calhoun, the secretary of war, 
addressed a letter of eight pages to Mr. Monroe 
on this matter, saying that it seemed " hazard- 
ous on the one side to connect the government 
too much with the movements in favor of the 
general, and on the other not to seem to sym- 
pathize with the popular feelings. Of the two, 
however, the latter is the most hazardous, and 
in a doubtful case we ought to err on the right 
side." A few days later Monroe answered 
some inquiries from Lafayette respecting his 
route, and added that his arrival " has given 
rise to a great political movement which has so 
far taken the direction and had the effect among 
us, and I presume in Europe, which the best 
friends to you and to sound principles could 
desire. It is of great importance that it should 
terminate in like manner." The letters from 
the visitor to his host are most familiar. In 
one of them he says, " I feel, my dear sir, the 
impropriety to address the President of the 
United States on a half sheet of paper, but am 
pressed by time, and the knowledge of the sin 
will remain between you and me." His closing 
salutations are varied and glowing, one of the 
most characteristic being, " from your old, affec- 
tionate, obliged brother-soldier and friend." 
From " on board the Pottowmack steam boat," 
February 24, 1825, he sends to Monroe "the 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 155 

commentary on Montesquieu, by my friend 
Tracy, George's father-in-law," which may be 
of use to one who " contemplates writing a 
political exposition." " It has been translated 
under the patronage of Mr. Jefferson, who con- 
siders it the best publication of the kind. 
You will, I believe, find it the most advanced 
theoretical point of the science, although the 
practice in every detail be still superior to 
theories." ^ 

After Lafayette's return to France his letters 
to Monroe were marked by the same confidence 
and affection, and they show that in private life 
he was as charming as in public he was popular. 
Two passages will be quoted. In the first he 
speaks as follows of the American visitors in- 
troduced to him at Lasfrance : — 

"I am afraid, dear friend, you continue to be un- 
easy at the number of American visits we are wont 
to receive. Be assured nothing can be more pleasing 
to me, and to us all ; it is even necessary. You know 
my American education, feelings, habits, prejudices. 
. . . Doomed as I am to live on a side of the Atlan- 
tic where, to be sure, I am bound by family, friendly, 
patriotic affections and duties, but in other respects 
less congenial to my youthful avocations and repub- 
lican nature, I ever have felt something peculiar and 
sympathetic in American communications, a dispo- 

^ Gouverneur MSS. 



156 JAMES MONROE 

sition which, of course, has been strengthened in my 
last visit, when in every man, woman, and child of a 
population of twelve millions, I have found a loving, 
indeed an enthusiastic friend. You may conceive 
what, in addition to my attachments and remem- 
brances of more than fifty years, must now be to 
me the United States and every sort of communion 
with their citizens. The visits we receive are not by 
far so numerous as I would like them, and the feeling 
is so unanimous in the family that young American 
strangers, as they arrive, are received by our girlg 
with more confidence and familiarity than they would 
be disposed to show to most of their older acquaint- 
ances, because there is something like family under- 
standing between them ; and so I have the delight to 
see that when American friends find themselves here 
in sight of American colors, American busts and por- 
traits, American manners, and American welcome, 
they look as feeling they are at home. Let me add 
that the sentiments, behavior, delicacy of all the 
young men from the United States are exemplary 
to a degree which, to the older part of their fellow- 
citizens, is an object of inexpressible and proud grati- 
fication." ^ 

In the second extract, the reader may see 
with what extreme delicacy Lafayette offers 
pecuniary assistance to one who had brought 
assistance to the Olmiitz prisoner three decades 
before. 

^ Gouvemeur MSS. 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 157 

" In the meanwhile, my dear Monroe, permit your 
earliest, your best, and your most obliged friend to be 
plain with you. It is probable that to give you time 
and facilities for your arrangements, a mortgage 
might be of some use. 

" The sale of one half of my Florida property is 
full enough to meet my family settlements and the 
wishes of my neighbors. There may be occasion for 
a small retrocession of acres, in case of some claims 
on the disposed-of Louisiana lands, an object as yet 
uncertain, at all events inconsiderable, so that there 
will remain ample security for a large loan, for I un- 
derstand the lands are very valuable, and will be 
more so, to a great extent, after the disposal of a part 
of them. You remember that in similar embarrass- 
ment I have formerly accepted your intervention ; it 
gives me a right to reciprocity. Our friend, Mr. 
Graham, has my full powers. Be pleased to peruse 
the inclosed letter, seal it, and put it in the post- 
office. I durst not send it before I had obtained 
your approbation, yet should it be denied, I would 
feel much mortified. I hope, I know, you are too 
much my friend not to accept what, in a similar case, 
I would not an instant hesitate to ask." ^ 

When Monroe's second term was almost 
ended the rivalries for the succession became 
very apparent. Adams, Crawford, and Cal- 
homi in his cabinet, Clay and Jackson outside 

^ Gouverneur MSS. I do not know whether Monroe availed 
himself of this generous offer, but I presume that he did not. 



158 JAMES MONROE 

of it, were all recognized candidates. Monroe 
remained neutral in the contest. The biogra- 
pher of William Wirt,^ with ample materials at 
his command for forming a judgment, says : — 

" During the pendency of this contest, Mr. Mon- 
roe observed a most scrupulous resolve against all 
interference with the freest expression of the public 
sentiment in regard to the candidates. In this he 
was fully seconded and sustained by his cabinet, by 
none more than by those whose names were in the 
lists for suffrage. For, at that time, it was not con- 
sidered decorous in the Executive to make itself a 
partisan in a presidential or any other election. 
Indeed, there was a most wholesome fastidiousness 
exhibited on this point, which would have interpreted 
the attempt of a cabinet officer, or any other func- 
tionary of the government, to influence the popular 
vote by speech, by writing, by favor, fear, or affec- 
tion, as a great political misdemeanor worthy of 
sharpest rebuke. These were opinions of that day 
derived from an elder age. They are obsolete opin- 
ions now." 

^ Hon. J. P. Kennedy, in his Life of Wirt, iL 168. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE MONROE DOCTRINE 

There is an important subject, pertaining 
to Monroe's administration, which has been re- 
served for a special chapter. The one event of 
his presidency which is indissolubly associated 
with his name, is an announcement of the policy 
of the United States in respect to foreign inter- 
ference in the affairs of this continent. The 
declaration bears the name of the " Monroe 
Doctrine." As such it is discussed in works on 
public law and in general histories. It is com- 
monly regarded as an epitome of the principles 
of the United States with respect to the devel- 
opment of American States. 

Everything which illustrates the genesis of 
such an important enunciation is of interest, but 
very little has come under my eye to illustrate 
the workings of Monroe's mind, or to show how 
it came to pass that he uttered in such terse sen- 
tences the general opinion of his countrymen. 
As a rule, he was not very skillful with his pen ; 
his remarks on public affairs are not often 
quoted, like those of Jefferson, Madison, and 



160 JAMES MONROE 

others of his contemporaries ; there was nothing 
racy or severe in his style ; nevertheless, he 
alone of all the Presidents has announced, with- 
out legislative sanction, a political dictum, which 
is still regarded as fundamental law, and bears 
with it the stamp of authority in foreign courts 
as well as in domestic councils. 

We must turn to the annual message of De- 
cember 2, 1823, for the text. The two passages 
which relate to foreign interference are quite 
distinct from one another, and are separated by 
the introduction of other matter. This is the 
language : — 



" At the proposal of the Russian imperial govern- 
ment, made through the minister of the emperor 
residing here, a full power and instructions have 
been transmitted to the minister of the United States 
at St. Petersburg, to arrange, by amicable negotia- 
tion, the respective rights and interests of the two 
nations on the northwest coast of this continent. A 
similar proposal has been made by his imperial ma- 
jesty to the government of Great Britain, which has 
likewise been acceded to. The government of the 
United States has been desirous, by this friendly 
proceeding, of manifesting the great value which 
they have invariably attached to the friendship of 
the emperor, and their solicitude to cultivate the 
best understanding with his government. In the 



THE MONROE DOCTRINE 161 

discussions to which this interest has given rise and 
in the arrangements by which they may terminate, 
the occasion has been judged proper for asserting, as 
a principle in which the rights and interests of the 
United States are involved, that the American conti- 
nents, by the free and independent condition which 
they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not 
to be considered as subjects for future colonization 
by any European powers." 

n 

" It was stated at the commencement of the last 
session that a great effort was then making in Spain 
and Portugal to improve the condition of the peo- 
ple of those countries, and that it appeared to be 
conducted with extraordinary moderation. It need 
scarcely be remarked that the result has been so far 
very different from what was then anticipated. Of 
events in that quarter of the globe, with which we 
have so much intercourse and from which we derive 
our origin, we have always been anxious and inter- 
ested spectators. The citizens of the United States 
cherish sentiments the most friendly in favor of the 
liberty and happiness of their fellow-men on that 
side of the Atlantic. In the wars of the European 
powers, in matters relating to themselves, we have 
never taken any part, nor does it comport with our 
policy so to do. It is only when our rights are in- 
vaded or seriously menaced, that we resent injuries 
or make preparation for our defense. "With the 
movements in this hemisphere we are, of necessity, 



162 JAMES MONROE 

more immediately connected and by causes which 
must be obvious to all enlightened and impartial ob- 
servers. The political system of the allied powers 
is essentially different in this respect from that of 
America. This difference proceeds from that which 
exists in their respective governments. And to the 
defense of our own, which has been achieved by the 
loss of so much blood and treasure, and matured by 
the wisdom of their most enlightened citizens, and 
under which we have enjoyed unexampled felicity, 
this whole nation is devoted. "We owe it, therefore, 
to candor and to the amicable relations existing be- 
tween the United States and those powers, to declare 
that we should consider any attempt on their part to 
extend their system, to any portion of this hemisphere 
as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the 
existing colonies or dependencies of any European 
power we have not interfered, and shall not interfere. 
But with the governments who have declared their 
independence and maintained it, and whose inde- 
pendence we have, on great consideration and on 
just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any 
interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or 
controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any 
European power, in any other light than as the 
manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward 
the United States. In the war between those new 
governments and Spain we declared our neutrality at 
the time of their recognition, and to this we have 
adhered and shall continue to adhere, provided no 
change shall occur which, in the judgment of the 



THE MONROE DOCTRINE 163 

competent authorities of this government, shall make 
a corresponding change on the part of the United 
States indispensable to their security. 

" The late events in Spain and Portugal show that 
Europe is still unsettled. Of this important fact no 
stronger proof can be adduced than that the allied 
powers should have thought it proper, on a principle 
satisfactory to themselves, to have interposed by force 
in the internal concerns of Spain. To what extent 
such interposition may be carried on the same prin- 
ciple, is a question to which all independent powers, 
whose governments differ from theirs, are interested ; 
even those most remote, and surely none more so 
than the United States. Our policy in regard to 
Europe, which was adopted at an early stage of the 
wars which have so long agitated that quarter of the 
globe, nevertheless remains the same, which is, not 
to interfere in the internal concerns of any of its 
powers ; to consider the government de facto as the 
legitimate government for us ; to cultivate friendly 
relations with it, and to preserve those relations by a 
frank, firm, and manly policy ; meeting, in all in- 
stances, the just claims of every power; submitting to 
injuries from none. But in regai'd to these conti- 
nents, circumstances are eminently and conspicuously 
different. It is impossible that the allied powers 
should extend their political system to any portion of 
either continent without endangering our peace and 
happiness ; nor can any one believe that our southern 
brethren, if left to themselves, would adopt it of their 
own accord. It is equally impossible, therefore, that 



164 JAMES MONROE 

we should behold such interposition, in any form, 
with indifference. If we look to the comparative 
strength and resources of Spain and those new gov- 
ernments, and their distance from each other, it must 
be obvious that she can never subdue them. It is 
stiU the true policy of the United States to leave the 
parties to themselves, in the hope that other powers 
will pursue the same course." 

It appears to me probable that Monroe had 
but little conception of the lasting effect which 
his words would produce. He spoke what he 
believed and what he knew that others believed ; 
he spoke under provocation, and aware that his 
views might be controverted ; he spoke with 
authority after consvdtation with his cabinet, 
and his words were timely ; but I do not suppose 
that he regarded this announcement as his own. 
Indeed, if it had been his own decree or ukase 
it would have been resented at home quite as 
vigorously as it would have been opposed abroad. 
It was because he pronounced not only the 
opinion then prevalent, but a tradition of other 
days which had been gradually expanded, and 
to which the country was wonted, that his 
words carried with them the sanction of public 
law. 

A careful examination of the writings of the 
earlier statesmen of the republic will illustrate 
the growth of the Monroe Doctrine as an idea 



THE MONROE DOCTRINE 165 

dimly entertained at first, but steadily developed 
by the course of public events and by the re- 
flection of men in public life. I have not 
made a thorough search, but some indications 
of the mode in which the doctrine was evolved 
have come under my eye which may here- 
after be added to by a more persistent investi- 
gator. 

The idea of independence from foreign sover- 
eignty was at the beginning of our national life. 
The term "• continental," applied to the army, 
the congress, the currency, had made familiar 
the notion of continental independence. This 
kept in mind the notion of a continental domain, 
— not provincial, nor colonial, nor merely na- 
tional. Moreover, in the writings, both public 
and private, of the fathers of the republic, we 
see how clearly they recognized the value of 
separation from European politics, and of repel- 
ling, as far as possible, European interference 
with American interests. 

1. Governor Thomas Pownall, in a work en- 
titled "A Memorial to the Sovereigns of Eu- 
rope," observed, in 1780, that a people, " whose 
empire stands singly predominant on a great 
continent," can hardly " suffer in their borders 
such a monopoly as the European Hudson Bay 
Company ; " and again, " America must avoid 
complication with European politics," and " the 



IGG JAMES MONROE 

entanglement of alliances, having no connections 
with Europe other than commercial." ^ 

2. One of the earliest of like allusions hap- 
pens to be in a letter of Monroe to Madison, 
December 6, 1784, when he says that " the con- 
duct of Spain respecting the Mississippi, etc., 
requires the immediate attention of Congress." 

3. A few months later, June 17, 1785, Jeffer- 
son, writing to Monroe from Paris, begs him to 
add his " testimony to that of every thinking 
American, in order to satisfy our countrymen 
how much it is their interest to preserve, unin- 
fected hj contagion^ those peculiarities in their 
government and manners to which they are in- 
debted for those blessings." 

4. Washington wrote to Jefferson, January 
1, 1788, in the interval which preceded the rati- 
fication of the Constitution : ^ "An energetic 
general government must prevent the several 
States from involving themselves in the political 
disputes of the European powers." 

5. When Washington's first term drew near 
its close he submitted to Madison the draft of 
a farewell address (May 20, 1792), and in it 
he gives emphasis to the independence of the 

1 These citations from Pownall are taken from Sumner's 
Prophetic Voices concerning America, pp. 123, 124. 

•^ Quoted by Bancroft from MS., History of the Constitution. 
ii. 299. ' !f J 



THE MONROE DOCTRIXE 167 

United States, in a phrase wliich with various 
turns was perpetuated through the subsequent 
revisions of that paper. His original language 
was this : " The extent of our country, the di- 
versity of our climate and soil, and the various 
productions of the States consequent to both, 
. . . may render the whole, at no distant pe- 
riod, one of the most independe7it nations in the 
viorld.'^ 

6. Madison's modification of this draft has 
the following sentence (June 20, 1792) : " The 
diversities [of this country] may give to the 
whole a more eiitire indejyeyidence than has, per- 
haps, fallen to the lot of any other nation." 

7. Four years later (prior to May 10, 1796), 
Washington submits to Hamilton memoranda 
for a farewell address, and says again : " If 
this country can remain in peace twenty years 
longer . . . such in all probability will be its 
population, riches, and resources, when com- 
bined with its pemliarly hapjjy aiid remote 
situation from the other quarters of the globe, 
as to bid defiance in a just cause to any earthly 
poioer whatsoever.^' 

8. The address, finally issued, says : " The 
great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign 
nations is, in extending our commercial rela- 
tions, to have with them as little political con- 
nection as possible." " Europe has a set of 



168 JAMES MONROE 

primary interests which to us have none or a 
very remote relation." " Our detached and dis- 
tant situation." "Why forego the advantages 
of so peculiar a situation ? " (September 17, 
1796.) 

9. John Adams speaks thus in his first in- 
augural address (March 4, 1797): "If [the 
control of an election] can be obtained by for- 
eign nations by flattery or menaces, by fraud or 
violence, by terror, intrigue, or venality, the 
government may not be the choice of the Amer- 
ican people but of foreign nations. It may he 
foreign nations who govern us, and not we the 
people who govern ourselves." 

10. In the second annual address of Adams 
this paragraph occurs (December 8, 1798) : — 

" To the usual subjects of gratitude I cannot omit 
to add one of the first importance to our well-being 
and safety — I mean that spirit which has arisen in 
our country against the menaces and aggressions of 
a foreign nation. A manly sense of national honor, 
dignity, and independence has appeared, which, if 
encouraged and invigorated by every branch of the 
government, will enable us to view undismayed the 
enterprises of any foreign power, and become the sure 
foundation of national prosperity and glory." 

11. There are three extracts from Jefferson's 
writings which show the tendency of his mind 



THE MONROE DOCTRINE 169 

at the beginning of the century. He said to 
Thomas Paine (March 18, 1801) r^ — 

" Determined as we are to avoid, if possible, wast- 
ing the energies of our people in war and destruction, 
we shall avoid implicating ourselves with the powers 
of Europe, even in support of principles which we 
mean to pursue. They have so many other interests 
different from ours, that we must avoid being entan- 
gled in them. We believe we can enforce those prin- 
ciples, as to ourselves, by peaceable means, now that 
we are likely to have our public councUs detached 
from foreign views." 



& 



A little later he wrote to WiUiam Short (Oc- 
tober 3, 1801) :2_ 

" We have a perfect horror at everything like con- 
necting ourselves with the politics of Europe. It 
would indeed be advantageous to us to have neutral 
rights established on a broad ground ; but no de- 
pendence can be placed in any European coahtion 
for that. They have so many other by-interests of 
greater weight that some one or other will always 
be bought off. To be entangled with them would be 
a much greater evil than a temporary acquiescence in 
the false principles which have prevailed." 

Again he says (October 29, 1808) : " We 
consider their interests and ours as the same, 

1 Jefferson's Works, iv. 370. 
^ Works, iv. 414. 



170 JAMES MONROE 

and that the object of both must be to exclude 
all European influence in this hemisphere." ^ 

12. At a cabinet meeting, May 13, 1818, Pre- 
sident Monroe propounded several questions on 
the subject of foreign affairs, of which the 
fifth, as recorded by J. Q. Adams,^ was this : 
" Whether the ministers of the United States 
in Europe shall be instructed that the United 
States will not join in any project of interposi- 
tion between Spain and the South Americans, 
which should not be to j)^omote the complete 
independence of those provinces ; and whether 
measures shall be taken to ascertain if this be 
the policy of the British government, and if so 
to establish a concert with them for the support 
of this policy." He adds that all these points 
were discussed, without much difference of 
opinion. 

13. On July 31, 1818, Rush had an impor- 
tant interview with Castlereagh in respect to a 
proposed mediation of Great Britain between 
Spain and her colonies. The cooperation of 
the United States was desired. Mr. Rush in- 
formed the British minister that "the United 

^ This quotation is made by Sehouler in a note, -where he 
says : " The germ of the Monroe Doctrine of later development 
is early seen in Jefferson's correspondence in view of the Span- 
ish uprising' against Bonaparte and its possible effects upon 
Cuba and Mexico, which he is well satisfied to leave in their 
present dependence." — History of the United States, ii. 202. 

^ Diary, iv. 



THE MONROE DOCTRINE 171 

States would decline taking part, if they took 
part at all, in any plan of pacification, except 
on the basis of the independence of the colonics. 
This," he added, " was the determination to 
which his government had come on much delib- 
eration.^^ 

14. August 4, 1820, Jefferson writes to Wil- 
liam Short : ^ — 

" From many conversations with him [M. Correa, 
appointed minister to Brazil by the government of 
Portugal], I hope he sees, and will promote in hig 
new situation, the advantages of a cordial fraterniza- 
tion among all the American nations, and the tin- 
portance of their coalescing in an American system 
of policy, totally indepeiident of and unconnected 
with that of Europe. The day is not distant M-hen 
we may formally require a meridian of partition 
through the ocean which separates the two hemi- 
spheres, on the hither side of which no European 
gun shall ever be heard, nor an American on the 
other ; and when, during the rage of the eternal wars 
of Europe, the lion and the lamb, within our regions, 
shall he down together in peace. . . . The principles 
of society there and here, then, are radically different, 
and I hope no American patriot will ever lose sight 
of the essential policy of interdicting in the seas and 
territories of both Americas, the ferocious and san- 
guinary contests of Europe. I wish to see this coa- 
lition begun." 

1 Randall's Jefferson, iii. 472. 



172 JAMES MONROE 

15. Gallatin writes to J. Q. Adams, June 24, 
1823, that before leaving Paris he had said to 
M. Chateaubriand on May 13: "The United 
States would undoubtedly preserve their neu- 
trality provided it were respected, and avoid 
every interference with the politics of Europe. 
. . . On the other hand, they would not suffer 
others to interfere against the emancipation of 
America." ^ 

A year previously, April 26, 1822, he had 
written from Paris that he had said to Mon- 
sieur : " America, having acquired the power, 
had determined to be no longer governed by 
Europe, . . . that we had done it [recognized 
the independence of the Spanish-American pro- 
vinces] without any reference to the form of 
government adopted by the several provinces, 
and that the question, being one of national in- 
dependence, was really altogether unconnected 
with any of those respecting internal institutions 
which agitated Europe." 

16. John Quincy Adams, in his diary under 
date of July 17, 1823, makes a note which the 
editor of that work regards as " the first hint of 
the policy so well known afterwards as the Mon- 
roe Doctrine." ^ In a conversation with Baron 
Tuyl, the Russian minister, on the Northwest 

^ Writings of Gallatin, by Adams, ii. 271 ; ii. 240. 
2 Diary, vi. 163. 



THE MONROE DOCTRINE 173 

Coast question, Mr. Adams, then secretary of 
state, told him that " we should contest the right 
of Russia to any territorial establishment on this 
continent, and that we should assume distinctly 
the principle that the American continents are 
no longer subjects for any new European colo- 
nial establishments." 

17, After Canning had proposed to Rush 
(September 19, 1823) that the United States 
should cooperate with England in preventing 
European interference with the Spanish-Amer- 
ican colonies, Monroe consulted Jefferson as 
well as the cabinet, on the course which it was 
advisable to take, and with their approbation 
prepared his message. Jefferson's reply to the 
President (October 24, 1823) was as fol- 
lows : ^ — 

" The question presented by the letters you have 
sent me is the most momentous which has ever been 
offered to my contemplation since that of independ- 
ence. That made us a nation, this sets our compass 
and points the course which we are to steer through 
the ocean of time opening on us. And never could 
we embark on it under circumstances more auspi- 
cious. Our first and fundamental maxim should be, 
never to entangle ourselves in the broils of Europe. 
Our second, never to suffer Europe to intermeddle 
with cis-Atlantic affairs. America, North and South, 

1 Randall, iii. 491. 



174 JAMES MONROE 

has a set of interests distinct from those of Europe, 
and peculiarly her own. She should therefore have 
a system of her own, separate and apart from that of 
Europe. While the last is laboring to become the 
domicile of despotism, our endeavor should surely be, 
to make our hemisphere that of freedom." 

An extract, dated 1824, and recently pub- 
lished, from the diary of William Plumer, who 
was a member of Congress during Monvoe's ad- 
ministration, gives to John Quincy Adams the 
credit of drafting the important portions of the 
message. He says that a day or two before 
CongTess met Monroe was hesitating about the 
allusion to the interference of the Holy Al- 
liance with Spanish America, and consulted the 
secretary of state about omitting it. Adams 
remained firm, replying, " You have my senti- 
ments on the subject already, and I see no reason 
to alter them." " Well," said the President, 
" it is written, and I will not change it now." ^ 

Enough has been quoted to show that Mr. 
Sumner 2 is not justified in saying that the 
"Monroe Doctrine proceeded from Canning," 
and that he was "its inventor, promoter, and 
champion, at least so far as it bears against 
European intervention in American affairs." 

1 Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. vi 
No. 3, p. 358. 

2 See his Prophetic Voices, pp. 157-160. 



THE MONROE DOCTRINE 175 

Nevertheless, Canning is entitled to high praise 
for the part which he took in the recognition of 
the Spanish republics, a part which almost justi- 
fied his proud utterance, " I called the New 
World into existence to redress the balance of 
the Old." 

If memoranda of Monroe's upon this subject 
are still extant they have eluded me. There is 
a letter to him from one of his family (Decem- 
ber 6) praising the message, and adding these 
sentences, which show the expectations of the 
friends of the administration. ^ 

" You have a full indemnification for all the time 
and attention it may have cost you, in the sentiment 
which has accompanied it throughout the nation, and 
I mistake greatly if it do not excite a feeling in 
Europe as honorable to our country as it may be 
unacceptable to many there. You will have the 
merit of proposing an enlightened system of policy, 
which promises to secure the united liberties of the 
New World, and to counteract the deep laid schemes 
in the Old for the establishment of an universal 
despotism. The sentiments and feelings which the 
message expresses, you may be assured, will be echoed 
with pride and pleasure from every portion of our 
widely extended country, and will be esteemed to 
have given to our national character new claims upon 
the civilized world. 

^ Gouverneur MSS. 



176 JAMES MONROE 

" The operation of your message also upon the 
reputation of your own administration cannot be mis- 
taken. Effecting higher objects, it will also be dis- 
tinctly traced in the prostration of those limited views 
of policy which have infected so many of those who 
have been intrusted of late with a portion of the 
powers and character of our country, and in the dif- 
fusion among our citizens of a great confidence in 
the general administration, so essential to the pro- 
sperity of our system. By giving a new and exalted 
direction to the public reflections, a tone of feeling 
and expression must succeed as fatal to the pretended 
patriots of the two last years as it will be honorable 
to those who, at the risk of popularity, have been the 
objects of their clamorous abuse." ^ 

The Monroe Doctrine came before Congress 
less than three years later, when the propriety 
of sending ministers to the Congress of Panama 
was debated. Mr. McLane was opposed to any 
course which should bind the United States to 
resist interference from abroad in the concerns 
of the South American governments, and Mr. 
Rives wished to declare still more explicitly 
that the United States was not pledged to main- 
tain by force the principle that no part of the 
American continent was henceforward subject 
to colonization by any European power. Daniel 
Webster made a speech, April 11, 1826, on the 

^ I am indebted to Mr. Morse, the editor of this series of 
volumes, for these citations. 



THE MONROE DOCTRINE 177 

Panama mission, in which he came boldly to 
the defense of the Monroe Doctrine. The coun- 
try's honor, he said, is involved in that declara- 
tion ; " I look upon it as a part of its treasures 
of reputation, and for one I intend to guard it." 
After reviewing the political history from the 
Congress of Vei-ona onward, he continued : " I 
look on the message of December, 1823, as form- 
ing a bright page in our history. I will help 
neither to erase it nor tear it out ; nor shall it 
be by any act of mine blurred or blotted. It 
did honor to the sagacity of the government, 
and I will not diminish that honor." ^ 

The origin of the Monroe Doctrine is regfarded 
by a recent English writer ^ as of " more than 
speculative importance ; " for, in his opinion, 
" the history of the doctrine shows that its literal 
interpretation is far from clear. Phrases which 
in the mouth of one man might be the obscure 
expression of confused thought would not be 
uttered by another without a deep political mean- 
ing." This leads the writer to an elaborate and 
very interesting investigation of the authorship. 
He speaks of Monroe " as the mild and vener- 
able patriarch of whom little but good is known, 
and who may the more easily be reputed a 
hero ; " and he conjectures that the popular ven- 

1 Works, iii. 205. 

'^ Keddaway : The Monroe Doctrine, p. 74. 



178 JAMES MONROE 

eration for the doctrine is due to " its supposed 
parentage by Monroe." On the other hand, 
he argues that if this famous pronunciamento 
" were proved to be the offspring of Adams, 
much of the glamour encircling it might fade 
away, and its interpretation might pass more 
completely from the sphere of sentiment into 
that of reason." This introduces an acute anal- 
ysis of the opinions and views of Monroe and 
of his secretary of state, John Quincy Adams, 
and involves the conclusion that " the conception 
of the Monroe Doctrine and much of its phrase- 
ology came from Adams, and that the share of 
Monroe did not extend beyond the revision." 

To me this discussion seems more important 
to the antiquary than to the historian ; for if 
further research should establish beyond ques- 
tion the authorship as that of Adams, the fact 
will still remain that the President and not the 
secretary of state announced the doctrine. It 
was his official sanction which gave authority to 
the phrases, by whomsoever they wei'e written, 
and lifted them far above the plane of personal 
opinions. Monroe spoke from the chair of the 
Chief Executive ; and to him statesmen and his- 
torians have continuously attributed the doc- 
trine. His official station, at a critical moment, 
and not his personal characteristics and opinions, 
gave to his words authority ; and their pro- 



THE MONROE DOCTRINE 179 

nounced acceptance by the people of the United 
States shows how accurately they express the 
sentiments of the people. It would require a 
volume to trace the effects of the Monroe Doc- 
trine upon poKtical discussions in the United 
States, from the date of its enunciation to the 
beginning of the Cuban war in the spring of 
1898. No attempt is here made to engage in 
this review, but in the appendix will be found a 
comprehensive bibliography by means of which 
the course of events and of debates may be read- 
ily traced. 



CHAPTER VIII 
SYNOPSIS OF Monroe's presidential 

MESSAGES ^ 

President Monroe's inaugural addresses 
and annual messages are of greater length than 
those of any of his predecessors. His fifteen spe- 
cial messages are almost all brief ; one, however, 
that of May 4, 1822, on internal improvements, 
is of extraordinary length. 

In his first inaugural address, delivered on 
March 5, 1817, he dwells upon the happy condi- 
tion into which the country had been brought by 
the excellence of its political institutions and the 
bounty of Nature. Protection o^ its liberty and 
prosperity against dangers from within could be 
secured only by maintaining the excellence of 
the national character. To secure it against 
dangers from without, the coast and frontier de- 
fenses, the army, the navy, but especially the 
militia, should be maintained in a state of effi- 
ciency. Attention is drawn to the advantages 

^ The following summary of the speeches and messages of 
James Monroe, printed in the Statesman's Manual, has been 
prepared for insertion here by Professor J. F. Jameson, Ph. D. 



MONROE'S PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGES 181 

of developing the resources of the country and 
drawing the various parts of the Union more 
closely together by the construction of roads and 
canals, to the extent sanctioned by the Con- 
stitution ; of increasing the indej)endence and 
strength of the industrial system of the country 
by the care of the government ; of paying the 
national debt at an early period ; and, in general, 
of making those improvements for which peace 
gives the best opportunity. He promises that 
the new administration will do all in its power 
to secure efficiency in all departments of the 
public service, to maintain peace with other na- 
tions, and to promote the increased harmony 
then pervading the Union. 

In the first annual message of President Mon- 
roe, dated December 2, 1817, which opens with 
congratulations on the progress of the national 
defenses and the increase of harmony, he speaks 
of the diplomatic relations with England, and 
with Spain and her revolted colonies, the na- 
tional revenue and the rapid extinguishment 
of the debt, recent purchases of lands from the 
Indians, our relations with them, the method 
of sale of public lands, the constitutionality of 
executing at national expense, improvements in 
inter - communication, American manufactures, 
public buildings at the federal capital, pensions 
for soldiers of the Revolution, and the repeal 



182 JAMES MONROE 

of the Internal taxes. Under the first head he 
reports the completion of arrangements for re- 
ducing naval forces on Lake Erie, the progress 
of various minor negotiations pursuant to the 
provisions of the treaty of Ghent, and the failure 
of our proposals for the opening of the ports in 
the West Indies and other British colonies to 
American vessels ; how this shall be met he 
leaves to Congress. He complains of violations 
of our neutrality by both Spain and her colonies, 
but expresses the belief that the occupation and 
hostile use of portions of territory claimed by 
us, at Amelia Island and Galveston, were not 
authorized by the latter, and defends the sup- 
pression of these resorts. He recommends pro- 
vision for the better civilization of the Indians 
upon the Western frontier, whose lands have 
recently been bought, and such regulation of the 
sale of the tracts thus opened to immigrants as 
shall most benefit the general government and 
the settlers. Concerning the right to make in- 
ternal Improvements he says : " Disregarding 
early impressions, I have bestowed on the sub- 
ject all the deliberation which its great impor- 
tance and a just sense of my duty required, and 
the result is a settled conviction in my mind that 
Congress does not possess the right." But he 
suggests a constitutional amendment giving the 
right to do this, and to institute seminaries of 



MONROE'S PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGES 183 

learning. He recommends the repeal of the in- 
ternal taxes, believing them no longer necessary. 

A special message of January 13, 1818, in- 
forms Congress that the settlement at Amelia 
Island, and probably that at Galveston, has been 
broken up. The President considers this justi- 
fied by their character, and declares that nothing 
has been or will be done to injure Spain. 

The second annual message, dated November 
17, 1818, opens with a statement by the Presi- 
dent of the arrangements which had been made 
with reference to a continuation of the conven- 
tion with Great Britain. He discusses the trou- 
bles in Florida, mentions the progress of the 
South American revolutions and the mediation 
proposed by the allied powers, notices the excel- 
lent condition of the national finances, and re- 
commends further protection. He dwells with 
satisfaction upon the progress of the system of 
defenses, and upon the admission of a new State, 
Illinois, believing that the rise of new States 
within our borders will produce the greatest 
benefits, both material and political. He recom- 
mends such provision for the Indians as will, if 
possible, prevent their extinction, accustom them 
to agriculture, and promote civilization among 
them ; and the establishment of a government 
for the District of Columbia more agreeable to 
principles of self-government. His statements 



184 JAMES MONROE 

as to events in Florida ought, perhaps, to be 
represented more fully. He draws a strong 
picture of the impotence of the Spanish author- 
ities, of the lawless character of the adventurers 
who seized upon various positions in the province, 
and of the dangers to which the citizens of the 
United States were subjected, at sea by the de- 
predations of the adventurers and on land by 
the attacks of the Indians incited by them. As 
Spain could not govern the region, and would 
not transfer it, the only course open to our gov- 
ernment, says the President, was to suppress the 
establishment at Amelia Island, and to carry 
the pursuit of the Indians so far as to prevent 
further disturbance from them, or from their in- 
citers, English or Spanish ; but care, he said, has 
been taken to show due respect to the govern- 
ment of Spain. 

The negotiations of our government with that 
of Spain form the chief subject of the annual 
message of December 7, 1819. A treaty by 
which the Spanish government ceded to the 
United States the province of Florida, while the 
United States renounced its claims to the part 
of Louisiana west of the River Sabine, known 
as Texas, and its claims to compensation for 
injuries sustained by its citizens from Spanish 
cruisers some twenty years before, had, early in 
this year, been concluded at Washington and 



MONROE'S PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGES 185 

ratified by the government there. It was then 
sent to Madrid, but, unexjiectedly, the SjDanish 
government delayed ratifying it, alleging not 
only that attempts had been made by United 
States citizens against Texas, but that our min- 
ister at Madrid had, as instructed, when present- 
ing the treaty for ratification, accompanied it by 
a declaration explaining the meaning given to 
one of its articles. In the present message the 
President comments severely upon the conduct 
of the Spanish court, denies its first charge 
absolutely, and explains that the second refers 
to a correction enabling the treaty to cover, as 
both governments agreed that it should cover, 
all cases of land grants of a specified sort. He 
declares that the conduct of Spain is perfectly 
unjustifiable, and is so regarded by European 
governments, and that it would be right for our 
government to carry out the treaty fairly, alone ; 
but suggests forbearance until the expected en- 
voy shall have arrived from Madrid. Other 
matters, new and old, which the President dis- 
cusses in this message are, the preservation of 
our neutrality in the South American conflict, 
the Canadian and West Indian commerce, the 
treasury, the contraction of bank circulation and 
depression of industry, the coast survey, the in- 
crease of the navy, and the maintenance of the 
Mediterranean squadron. 



186 .lAMLS MONROK 

A spet'iiil int"*s;i;;»>, "H'nt n fi'w ilays lattT, De- 
ccmiiIkt lT,ile.scriU'.H, aiui suluuitH U) aiiu'iitlineiit 
bv Congress, the arran^mu'iits whii'h the Kxoo- 
utive had iua»le f<>r tin- tr.insfiTviuv to Africa 
of ni';^roos captureil in atvonlaiwo with tho act 
for the al>olilion of the .shive-tra»le. 

In the last annual n>eHs;»^e of his fir^t term, 
that of November 14, 18'20, I'rvsitleiit Monroe 
takes occasion to review the present situation of 
the Union. IIo expressi's the jjrvatest satisfac- 
tion at our woiuhrful pn><i|»erity. Whilo cer- 
tain interests liave sufTercil ihpn-ssion Ufauso 
of the long Kuro|H'an wan ami the c«m.se<juent 
in(Iustri;il derangements, ho reganls these as 
mild antl instructive admonitions, and as ai'cu- 
mulating '* multiplicil pntofs of the great jK-rfeo- 
tion of our most excellent system of government, 
the jx)werful instrument in the hands of an all 
men^'iful Creator, in securing to as these bh'ss- 
iDgs," He rej>orts that the tn-aty with Spain is 
not yet ratihi-il, while Horiila is constantly made 
a basis of smuggling ojR-rations ; that the restric- 
tions on commerce to and frt>nj the West Indies 
continue ; and that negotiations have been com- 
inencetl for a comuienMal treaty with France, 
and recommends legisUition making more just 
the recent tonnage duties on French vessels. 
South American affairs are, as usual, mentioned. 
The rapid reduction of the public debt is noted. 



MONROE'S PRESIDKNTIAL Mt:SSAGES 187 

M showing; the extent of the natiunal resources. 
The l^resiileiit theu recoimuuiids lej^i-slation to 
relieve those who have bought publir lands on 
credit in days of higher j>rirts. ilr re|>orLs pro- 
gress in the prejKiration of the extensive i>«t*-ni 
of fortifii'atioiiH, and sets forth tin- gn-at atlvan- 
tagfs to l>e ex|>ei-teil from them, ajid more brietly 
those <lerivai)le fn>ai the frontier ))o«ts among 
the Indians and the naval H<|uadrtms abroad. 

In his s«Tond inaugural addn>ss, deliveretl 
Mareii 4, iMll, Presiilmt M on r«>e first expresses 
his gratitude for the eonlidence of his fellow-cit- 
iwiis, an»l his s;itiHfa4tion at the general atx«ord 
witli which it h.xs Ikhju expressed. "Having 
n<» pntvnsions," says he, '• to tlie high and 
eonmianding claims of my pre«leces*ors. whose 
names are so much more conspicuously identified 
with our Hcvolution. and who contribut^xl so 
preeminently to promote its success, I consider 
myself rather as the instrument than the cause 
of tiie union which hxs prevailed in the late 
election. ... It is obvious that other power- 
ful causes, intlicating the great strength and sta- 
bility of our Union, have essentially contribute*! 
to draw you together." He tlien rev-iews the 
acts of the government in the previous term, 
and, first of all, the progress made in fortitlca- 
tiun. Upon matters of foreign jwlicy, the chief 



188 JAMES MONROE 

opinions expressed by him are, that our neutral- 
ity in the South American conflict should by all 
means be preserved, that the troubles in Florida 
could not be ended in any other way than that 
pursued, that the treaty with Spain and the 
acquisition of the peninsula will prove highly 
advantageous to our country, and that our naval 
squadrons in foreign waters have been most effi- 
cient in suppressing the slave-trade and piracy. 
He recommends, in view of the public exigencies, 
the restoration of the internal duties and ex- 
cises, the removal of which he had, under other 
circumstances, suggested in a former message. 
He further recommends that the Indians, in- 
stead of being treated as independent nations, 
be settled upon lands granted to them as individ- 
uals, and helped to improvement in agriculture 
and civilization ; and that measures be taken to 
make us always capable of self-defense. He 
then compares the excellence and success of our 
government with the defects and failures of those 
of the ancient republics, and expresses the belief 
" that our system will soon attain the highest 
degree of perfection of which human institutions 
are capable." The address closes with remarks 
upon the increase of the area and population of 
the United States, and with acknowledgments 
of the ability and uprightness of the President's 
cabinet advisers. 



MONROE'S PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGES 189 

The principal subjects of the fifth annual 
message, that of December 3, 1821, are, com- 
mercial relations arising under the act of March 
3, 1815, and the transference and government 
of Florida. Besides these, the President briefly 
discusses Portuguese and South American af- 
fairs, the treasury and revenue, incidental pro- 
tection to manufactures, internal taxation, now 
no longer deemed necessary, surveys, fortifica- 
tions, and war vessels, and the efficiency of the 
Mediterranean squadron in restraining the Bar- 
bary powers, and of the naval forces elsewhere 
in suppi'essing piracy and the slave-trade. The 
act of March 3, 1815, had provided that the 
manufactures and productions of any foreign na- 
tion, imported into the United States in vessels 
of the same nation, should be exempted from 
the payment of any further duties than would 
be paid upon the same merchandise if imported 
in our ships, whenever the Executive should be 
satisfied that the nation in question had con- 
ferred the like privilege upon our commerce. 
It was thought, says the President, that the pro- 
posal was liberal, and that any power acceding 
to it would also throw open the trade of its colo- 
nies to foreign vessels on a similar basis. But 
England, while accepting it for her European 
dominions, has declined it for the West Indies, 
and France has declined it altogether; direct 



190 JAMES MONROE 

trade with the West Indies and France in our 
vessels and theirs has therefore ceased. He 
expresses regret at the extreme interpretation 
put by the French government upon the most- 
favored-nation clause in the treaty of 1803, and 
defends the seizure of the Apollo, on the nomi- 
nally Spanish side of the St. Mary's River, on 
the ground that the sole purpose of its presence 
there was to elude our revenue laws. He reports 
the extension of the reciprocity system of the act 
of 1815 by treaties with several powers. In an- 
nouncing the transfer of Florida, he comments 
severely upon the refusal of the Spanish officials 
in charge to transfer the land records of the 
province. He describes the measures taken for 
the provisional government of the district, re- 
grets the dissensions which have occurred in it, 
recommends the prompt establishment of a ter- 
ritorial government for it, and reports progress 
in the satisfaction of the claims of our citizens 
against Spain. 

During this same session several special mes- 
sages were sent to Congress. The first, on Feb- 
ruary 25, 1822, suggests a larger appropriation 
for a treaty with the Cherokees ; the second, 
dated March 8, 1822, relates to the contest 
between Spain and her colonies. The opinion 
is expressed that recent events have made it 
manifest that the colonies not only possess inde- 



MONROE'S PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGES 191 

pendence, but are certain to retain it, and that 
the recognition of their independence by us 
should now be made, that it cannot be regarded 
by Spain as improper, and may help to shorten 
the struggle. A longer special message of 
March 26 refers to the fortifications at Dau- 
phin Island at the mouth of Mobile Bay, and, 
incidentally, to the subject of fortifications in 
general. The President demonstrates the neces- 
sity of extensive fortifications at that point for 
the protection not only of Mobile but of New 
Orleans, and thus of the whole valley of the 
Mississippi. He ends the message with a 
strong vindication of the policy of fortification 
adopted by Congress soon after the late de- 
structive war with England ; he shows that 
the amount of loss which, in any similar emer- 
gency, would be thus prevented, far exceeds the 
cost of the works themselves, and that the latter 
has been, and is being, defrayed without sensi- 
bly increasing the burdens resting upon the 
people. 

By far the most important of the special mes- 
sages of President Monroe are those vetoing the 
Cumberland Road Bill, and giving the reasons 
therefor. In the former he briefly declares his 
opinion that the power to pass such a law im- 
plies the power to adopt and execute a complete 



192 JAMES MONROE 

system of internal improvement, and that such 
a power is neither specifically nor incidentally 
granted by the Constitution. The session being 
too advanced to permit him to include his rea- 
sons in this message, he instead transmits to Con- 
gress an exposition of his views on the subject 
previously committed to paper, and having a 
form somewhat different from that which would 
have been adopted in a message. The paper 
so transmitted forms a special message of great 
length, setting forth fully the President's views 
on internal improvements. 

This message may be divided into four parts. 
In the first he discusses the general subject of 
the division of powers between the general gov- 
ernment and the State governments ; in the 
second he describes the powers which the gene- 
ral government would have to exercise if it pos- 
sessed the right claimed for it ; in the third he 
controverts in detail the arguments of those 
who seek to derive the power in question from 
various powers conceded to Congress by the 
Constitution ; in the fourth he declares the ad- 
vantages of the possession of such a power by 
them, if carefully confined to great works of 
national importance, and recommends an amend- 
ment to secure that end. 

The subjects of the first portion are, the ori- 
gin of the state governments and their endow- 



MONROE'S PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGES 193 

ments when first formed ; the origin of the 
national government and the powers vested in 
it, and the powers which are admitted to have 
remained to the state governments. The views 
disclosed in it are substantially the following : 
When the power of the crown was abrogated, 
the authority which had been held by it vested 
exclusively in the people of the colonies. These 
appointed a Congress. They also formed state 
governments, to which all necessary powers of 
government, not vested in Congress, were im- 
parted, the sovereignty stiU residing in the peo- 
ple. Meanwhile the powers of Congress, though 
vast, were undefined. Hence the plan of con- 
federation ratified in 1781. Now it may fairly 
be presumed that where grants of certain pow- 
ers were transferred in the same terms from 
this to the Constitution of 1788, they should be 
construed in the same sense in the latter which 
they bore in the former. Its principal provi- 
sions are therefore here inserted. Its incompe- 
tence being demonstrated, the new Constitution 
was formed and ratified, the state governments 
themselves taking the lead in this forward move- 
ment. A compact was thus formed, which can- 
not be altered except by those who formed it, 
and in the mode in it described. Thus there 
were two separate and independent governments 
established over the Union, one for local pur- 



194 JAMES MONROE 

poses over each State, by the people of the 
State ; the other for national purposes over all 
the States, by the people of the United States. 
Both governments have a common origin or 
sovereign, the people, whose whole power, on 
the representative principle, is divided between 
them. As a result of this survey, two impor- 
tant facts are disclosed ; the first is, that the 
power or sovereignty passed from the crown 
directly to the people ; the second, that it passed 
to the people of each colony, and not to the 
people of all the colonies in the aggregate. 
Had it been otherwise, had the people not had 
equal rights and a common interest in the strug- 
gle, or had the sovereignty passed to the aggre- 
gate, the Revolution might not have succeeded. 
But, clearly, power passed to the people of 
each colony, for the chartered rights, whose vio- 
lation produced the Revolution, were those se- 
cured by the charters of each colony ; and the 
composition and conduct of Congress confirm 
this position. The powers granted by the Con- 
stitution to the government of the United States 
are then detailed. On the powers remaining to 
the governments of the States, it is observed, 
that the territory contemplated by the Constitu- 
tion is the territory of the several States, and 
under their jurisdiction ; the people is the people 
of the several States ; the militia, the holding 



MONROE'S PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGES 195 

of property, the administration of justice, the 
criminal code, are all under the control of the 
state governments, except in cases otherwise 
specially provided for. The right of the gene- 
ral government is, in short, a power to perform 
certain specified acts and those only. 

The second division of the message discusses 
briefly the nature and extent of the powers re- 
quisite to the general government in order to 
adopt and execute a system of internal improve- 
ment, a necessary preliminary to the decision 
whether it has this power. First, says the Presi- 
dent, it must be able to buy the land even in 
spite of the owner's refusal to sell ; secondly, it 
must be able to punish those who injure the road 
or canal, by having not only jurisdiction over it 
but power to bring them to justice, wherever 
caught ; thirdly, it must be able to establish 
tolls and provide for their collection and for the 
punishment of those infringing such regulations. 

If, he continues, the United States possess this 
power, it must, since it has not been specifically 
granted, be derived from one of the following 
sources : First, the right to establish post-offices 
and post-roads ; second, to declare war ; third, 
to regulate commerce among the several States ; 
fourth, from the power to pay the debts and pro- 
vide for the common defense and general wel- 
fare of the United States ; fifth, from the power 



196 JAMES MONROE 

to make all laws necessary and proper for carry- 
ing into execution all the powers vested by the 
Constitution in the government of the United 
States, or in any department or officer thereof ; 
sixth, from the power to dispose of and make 
all needful rules and regulations respecting the 
territory and other property of the United States. 
From some one or other of these the advocates 
of the power derive it, and all these the Presi- 
dent proceeds, in this third part of his message, 
to consider in detail. 

As to the first grant, it is contended that it 
cannot, in the ordinary sense of the word " estab- 
lish," be held to mean anything more than the 
use of existing roads by the mail-carrier in pass- 
ing over them as others do ; that the phrase 
must be held to mean just what it did in the 
Articles of Confederation ; that, its object being 
the carriage of the mails, only what is abso- 
lutely necessary to that object is conceded ; and 
that the proposed interpretation would give Con- 
gress the same jurisdiction over all the roads 
already existing in every State. 

The claim under the second grant mentioned 
would extend to canals as well as to roads. If 
internal improvements are to be carried to the 
full extent to which they may be useful for mili- 
tary purposes, the power must extend to all 
roads in the Union. Further, the Constitution 



MONROE'S PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGES 197 

makes a special grant of several rights, like that 
of raising an army, which might much more cer- 
tainly be derived from that of declaring war 
than could the power in question ; omission to 
mention the latter, therefore, proves that it is not 
granted, as does also the specification of a grant 
of jurisdiction over land ceded for fortifications ; 
we are obliged to infer that in this case alone is 
the power given. 

Next, the President takes up the third argu- 
ment, from the power to regulate commerce be- 
tween the States. The history of this grant and 
of the discussions which preceded it make it 
evident, he says, that it was intended merely to 
give power to impose duties on foreign trade 
and to prevent any on trade between the States. 

The fourth claim is founded on the second 
part of the first clause of Art. I. Sec. 8 of the 
Constitution, which reads : " The Congress shall 
have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, im- 
posts, and excises, to pay the debts and provide 
for the common defense and general welfare of 
the United States ; but all duties, imposts, and 
excises shall be uniform throughout the United 
States." The reasoning upon this point is in 
substance the following : The second phrase 
here used gives a right to appropriate the public 
money, and it gives this power alone. For, first, 
if the right of appropriation is not given by this 



198 JAMES MONROE 

clause It is not given at all ; secondly, this part 
of the grant has none of the characteristics of a 
distinct and original power, but is manifestly in- 
cidental to the first part ; thirdly, if this is not 
its real meaning it has a scope so wide as to 
make unnecessary all the other grants in the 
Constitution, for they would be included in this ; 
further, the place which this phrase occupies is 
exactly the one most fitting for a grant of the 
right of appropriation. If, then, this is the 
power here granted, it remains to inquire what 
is the extent of this power. One construction 
is, that the government has no right to expend 
money except in the performance of acts author- 
ized by the other specific grants, according to 
a strict construction of their nature. " To this 
construction," says President Monroe, " I was 
inclined in the more early stage of our govern- 
ment ; but, on further reflection and observation, 
my mind has undergone a change, for reasons 
which I will frankly unfold." The power to 
raise money and the power to appropriate it are 
both, in this grant, conveyed in terms as general 
and unqualified as, for instance, those conceding 
to Congress the power to declare war. More 
comprehensive terms than " to pay the debts and 
provide for the common defense and general 
welfare " could not have been used. And so 
intimately connected with and dependent on 



MONROE'S PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGES 199 

each other are the two branches of power 
granted, that a limitation of one would have 
had the like effect upon the other. But indeed 
it was impossible to have created a power within 
the government, distinct from Congress and the 
Executive, which should control the movement 
of the government in respect to expenditures, 
and not destroy it. This, then, must be the 
nature of the grant of appropriation. Have 
Congress, then, a right to raise and appropriate 
the public money to any and to every purpose, 
according to their will and pleasure ? They cer- 
tainly have not. The government of the United 
States is a limited government, instituted for 
great national purposes, and for those only. 
Good roads and canals will, however, promote 
many very important national purposes. To the 
appropriation of the public money to such im- 
provements there seems to be no well founded 
constitutional objection ; to do anything further 
than this the general government is not compe- 
tent. This has also been the practice of our gov- 
ernment ; for instance, in the case of the Cum- 
berland Road, all the acts of the United States 
have been based on the principle that the sover- 
eignty and jurisdiction belonged not to the gen- 
eral government but to the States ; Congress 
has simply appropriated money from the public 
treasury, thus aiding a work of great national 
utility. 



200 JAMES MONROE 

The conclusion reached upon this point is, 
therefore, that the right to make internal im- 
provements has not been granted by the power 
to "provide for the common defense and gene- 
ral welfare," but only the right to appropriate 
the public money ; that the government itself 
being limited, the power to appropriate is also 
limited, the extent of the government, as desig- 
nated by the specific grants, marking the extent 
of the power, which should, however, be ex- 
tended to every object embraced by the fair 
scope of those grants, and not confined to a 
strict construction of their respective powers (it 
being safer to aid the purposes of those grants 
by the appropriation of money than to extend, 
by a forced construction, the grant itself) ; and 
that, though the right to appropriate is indis- 
pensable, it is insufficient as a power if a great 
scheme of improvements is contemplated. 

Against the fifth source suggested, the power 
to make all laws necessary and proper for car- 
rying into execution all powers vested by the 
Constitution in the general government, it is 
urged that such a power is not by that instru- 
ment so vested. 

Sixthly, the second clause of Art. II. Sec. 3 of 
the Constitution is shown, by the first clause and 
by the history of the cessions of land to the 
United States by the States, to refer to such 



MONROE'S PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGES 201 

lands only. The power to make all needful reg- 
ulations respecting the territory and other pro- 
perty of the United States has, therefore, no 
bearing upon the subject of internal improve- 
ments to be made by the general government. 

Therefore it is concluded that the desired 
power is not possessed. Much more than the 
right to appropriate is required ; territorial juris- 
diction over the roads is not, however, necessary, 
but may be left to the States, if the government 
have the power to protect its works. 

The great advantages of such improvements 
are easily seen, while no other region can, from 
its configuration, be improved so vastly by roads 
and canals at so slight expense. The inter- 
change of our varied productions would be ren- 
dered more easy and commerce increased ; the 
efficiency of both the general and the state 
governments, the intelligence of the people, the 
strength of the Union, and the expansion of our 
system, would be greatly promoted. It cannot 
be doubted that such improvements can be made 
by the general government better than by the 
local governments, liable to jealousies and in- 
fluences not felt by the former. The Cumber- 
land Road, in particular, has a pressing need 
of the use of this power by the national gov- 
ernment. 

" If it is thought proper," concludes the Pre- 



202 JAMES MONROE 

sident, " to vest this power in the United States, 
the only mode in which it can be done is by an 
amendment of the Constitution. On full con- 
sideration, therefore, of the whole subject, I am 
of opinion that such an amendment ought to be 
recommended to the several States for their 
adoption. It is, however, my opinion that the 
power should be confined to great national works 
only, since, if it were unlimited, it would be 
liable to abuse and might be productive of 
evil." 

President Monroe in his sixth annual mes- 
sage, dated December 3, 1822, touches upon a 
great variety of subjects. He reports the con- 
clusion of a satisfactory commercial convention 
with France, the opening of trade with the 
British colonies, and a decision by the Emperor 
of Russia upon Article I. of the Treaty of Ghent, 
and recommends the legislation which these 
events require. He announces the formation of 
a territorial government for Florida ; states the 
prosperous condition of the finances ; summa- 
rizes the report of the secretary of war, espe- 
cially as to the Academy at West Point, and that 
of the secretary of the navy ; and recommends 
the removal of the Seminoles. Referring to 
his message upon the Cumberland Road, he sug- 
gests that if Congress do not see fit to propose 



MONROE'S PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGES 203 

the amendment there advised, it can certainly 
take measures to repair and protect the road ; 
he further recommends increased protective 
duties. The remainder of the message deals 
with foreign affairs. The President expresses 
his hope that Spain will soon give up the con- 
test with her colonies, and exhibits strong sym- 
pathy with the cause of Greece. In view of 
the complications in Europe which make war 
imminent, he exhorts the nation, while it con- 
gratulates itself upon its exemption from the 
causes which disturb peace elsewhere, to keep 
itseK ever in a position to defend its liberties in 
any emergency. 

At the beginning of his seventh annual mes- 
sage, December 2, 1823, the President explains 
the purpose of his messages, declaring that, as 
with us the people are exclusively the sovereigns, 
they should be informed on all public matters, 
especially foreign affairs and finance. Progress 
is reported in various negotiations. Our gov- 
ernment having begun to negotiate with the 
Russian emperor and with England in regard to 
the northwest boundary, " the occasion has been 
judged proper for asserting, as a principle in 
which the rights and interests of the United 
States are involved, that the American conti- 
nents, by the free and independent condition 
which they have assumed and maintain, are 



204 JAMES MONROE 

hencefortli not to be considered as subjects for 
future colonization by any European powers." 
He mentions the proposals of our government 
that the slave-trade be declared piracy, and that 
privateering be abolished, and expresses strong 
approval of both these measures. The condi- 
tion of the finances, the war department, the 
militia, the navy, piracies in the Gulf, the post- 
office department, the tariff, the public accounts, 
and the Cumberland Road, is described, without 
recommendations of special significance. The 
project for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal is 
mentioned with approval, and an appropriation 
for a survey is recommended, as well as for other 
public works. The most ardent wishes for the 
success of Greece in winning independence are 
expressed. Then follows a celebrated passage, 
already reproduced in the text of this book.^ 

The message closes with a comparison of the 
present state of the country with that at the 
close of the Revolution, touching upon the ad- 
jditions to our territory, the expansion of our 
population, the accession of new States, and the 
strengthening of our system to such an extent 
that consolidation and disunion are both im- 
practicable. 

A special message, sent to Congress on Feb- 
ruary 24, 1824, submitted to their consideration 

1 See p. 158. 



MONROE'S PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGES 205 

the claim of a portion of the Massachusetts 
militia to compensation for services in the late 
war. The decision of the Governor of Massa- 
chusetts, that the power to call out the militia 
of a State was conditional upon the consent of 
its Executive, and that when called out they 
could not be placed under the command of an 
officer of the regular army, had previously made 
it impossible for the national Executive to make 
such compensation. Now, however, the prin- 
ciple in dispute being conceded by that State, 
favorable action is recommended to Congress. 

The important matters mentioned in the last 
annual message of President Monroe, that of 
December 7, 1824, aside from those which ap- 
pear in the same form in previous messages, are : 
the slave-trade, the rights of neutrals, the engin- 
eers' surveys, the visit of General Lafayette, 
the relations of our government with those of 
South America, the Supreme Court, and the 
Indians. A convention between the United 
States and Great Britain, declaring the slave- 
trade piratical, has been concluded but not yet 
ratified. An effort has been made, on occasion 
of the war between France and Spain, to put 
upon a more just basis the rights of neutral ves- 
sels in time of war, and it is hoped will prove 
successful. In view of the extensive roads and 
canals now projected, it is recommended that 



206 JAMES MONROE 

the corps of engineers be increased. The arri- 
val of General Lafayette and his warm welcome 
are mentioned, and it is suggested that in con- 
sideration of his services a suitable provision be 
tendered him by Congress. The independent 
states of South America are reported to be fol- 
lowing the example of our prosperity, in spite of 
some presumably temporary disturbances ; the 
most friendly feelings toward them are expressed. 
The President recommends an organization of 
the Supreme Court which will relieve the judges 
of that court from any duties not connected with 
it, and will be more suited to the requirements 
of the present day ; that some wise and humane 
arrangement be made for the Indians, — perhaps 
settling them in the territory toward the Rocky 
Mountains, — which will lead to their permanent 
settlement in agricultural pursuits, and ulti- 
mately to their civilization, for which it is our 
solemn duty to provide ; and that the propriety 
of establishing a military station on the Pacific 
Coast be considered. He again reminds the 
nation of the many blessings it enjoys, and ex- 
horts it to preserve them from dangers without 
and dissensions within, and concludes this, his 
last annual message, with expressions of grati- 
tude for the public confidence and the generous 
support received from his fellow-citizens. 

During the session of 1825 several brief spe- 



MONROE'S PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGES 207 

cial messages were sent to Congress. In the 
first, dated January 5, the President requests a 
full investigation of his accounts with the gov- 
ernment during his long public service, with a 
view to a decision upon them hereafter. In the 
second, dated January 10, he gives reasons for 
withholding the documents, called for by the 
House of Representatives, concerning the con- 
duct of Commodore Stewart and Mr. Provost 
in South America. With the third, also ad- 
dressed to the House and dated January 27, 
he transmits a report of the secretary of war in 
regard to the removal of Indians to the West, 
and recommends that some scheme of good 
government for them be adopted. With the 
fourth, of February 14, he transmits to the 
House a report of the secretary of war on cer- 
tain surveys for internal improvements. The 
fifth, of February 17, concerns special affairs of 
the District of Columbia. The sixth, of Febru- 
ary 21, again refers the claims of the Massachu- 
setts militia to Congress, to whom, and not to 
the Executive, belongs the decision of the mat- 
ter. The last message, dated February 26, 
1825, concerns a matter of mere routine, the 
unintentional neglect to sign a certain bill. 



CHAPTER IX 

PERSONAL ASPECT AND DOMESTIC RELATIONS 

Little has been said hitherto of Monroe's 
domestic and personal characteristics, but I can- 
not close the narrative without some reference 
to them, — beginning with a mention of his 
happy marriage and his family ties. While 
attending Congress in New York, he became 
engaged to Miss Eliza Kortwright, daughter of 
Lawrence Kortwi'ight of that city, a lady of 
high social standing and of great beauty. He 
consulted his relative and life-long friend. Judge 
Jones, on this important matter, and received 
from him this counsel, which, however admirable 
for its discretion and caution, was certainly not 
likely to influence a man of twenty-eight who 
was ardently in love. 

JUDGE JONES TO JAMES MONROE 

*' You will act prudently (so soon as you determine 
to fix yourself to business) to form the connection 
you propose with the person you mention or some 
other, as your inclination and convenience shall dic- 
tate. Sensibility and kindness of heart, good-nature 
without levity, a moderate share of good sense, with 



PERSONALITY; DOMESTIC RELATIONS 209 

some portion of domestic experience and economy, 
will generally, if united in the female character, pro- 
duce that happiness and benefit which results from 
the married state, and is the highest human felicity a 
man may enjoy, and he cannot fail to enjoy it when 
he is blessed with a companion of such a disposition 
and behavior, unless he is so weak and imprudent as 
to be his own tormentor. You have reached that 
period of life to be capable of thinking and acting for 
yourself in this delicate and interesting business, and 
I can only assure you that any accommodation I shall 
be able to afford you, to render yours and her situa- 
tion agreeable and easy, will be cheerfully afforded, 
which, should fortune be wanting, will be more em- 
barrassing in the commencement than any after 
period." 

It does not appear how carefully the lover 
weighed these words of wisdom, but the result 
of his own reflections appears in a letter to 
Madison, in which he announces his intended 
marriage. 

" If you visit this place shortly I will present you 
to a young lady who will be adopted a citizen of 
Virginia in the course of this week." 

Three months later he writes to Jefferson : — 

" You will be surprised to hear that I have formed 
the most interesting connection in human life with a 
young lady in this town, as you know my plan was 
to visit you before I settled myself ; but having 



210 JAMES MONROE 

formed an attachment to this young lady — a Miss 
Kortwright, the daughter of a gentleman of respect- 
able character and connections in this State, though 
injui-ed in his fortunes by the late war — I have 
found that I must relinquish all other objects not 
connected with her. We were married about three 
months since. I remain here until the fall, at which 
time we remove to Fredericksburg in Virginia, where 
I shall settle for the present in a house prepared for 
me by Mr. Jones, to enter into the practice of the 
law." 

The young lawyer had doubted where to make 
his permanent home, and his friendly relative 
went over the field carefully, and pointed out to 
him the comparative advantages of Fredericks- 
burg and Richmond, with particular reference 
to his profession. The former is at length de- 
termined on, and the choice is thus announced 
to Jefferson, August 19, 1786 : — 

" I shall leave this about the 1st of October for 
Virginia, — Fredericksburg. Believe me, 1 have not 
relinquished the prospect of being your neighbor. 
The house for which I have requested a plan may 
possibly be erected near Monticello ; to fix there, and 
to have yourself in particular, with what friends we 
may collect around, for society is my chief object ; or 
rather, the only one which promises to me, with the 
connection I have formed, real and substantial plea- 
sure ; if, indeed, by the name of pleasure it may be 
caUed." 



PERSONALITY; DOMESTIC RELATIONS 211 

There were two children of this marriage, 
Eliza, who married Judge George Hay of Vir- 
ginia ; and Maria, who married Samuel L. Gou- 
verneur of New York. When Monroe was in 
Paris his elder daughter was at school with 
Hortense Beauharnais, who became Queen of 
Holland, and their teacher was the celebrated 
Madame Campan. The acquaintance thus formed 
became a warm friendship. The child of Mon- 
roe's daughter was named Hortense or Horten- 
sia, after Queen Hortense, who retained a warm 
interest in her namesake through her life. In a 
Baltimore family interesting mementos of this 
intimacy are carefully preserved. Portraits in 
oil of Hortense and Eugene Beauharnais and of 
Madame Campan were sent to Hortensia Hay by 
the former queen, with an affectionate letter, 
and there are reasons to think that she re- 
membered in her last will her American name- 
sake.^ 

Monroe's interest in the various members of 
his family connection is marked by more than 
ordinary affection. He took great pains to fur- 
ther their material welfare, and make them 
comfortable in their outward affairs, but he was 
always on his guard against using his official 

^ The gentleman, Charles Wilmer, Esq., who owns these 
valuable pictures, has also a charming miniature of Mrs. Mon- 
roe, painted when she resided in Paris. 



212 JAMES MONROE 

station for the benefit of any relative. In June, 
1794, just as he was about to sail for Europe, 
he gave the following advice to a nephew. ^ It 
indicates, more accurately than any other letter 
which I recall, Monroe's moral principles. 

" You may by your industry, prudence, and studi- 
ous attention to your business, as well as to your 
books, make such exertions as will advance your for- 
tune and reputation in the world, whereby alone your 
happiness or even trancpiillity can be secured. Not 
only the reality of these virtues must be possessed, 
but such an external must be observed as to satisfy 
the world you do possess them, otherwise you will 
not enjoy their confidence. You will recollect, like- 
wise, that heretofore your youth and inexperience 
were an excuse for any apparent levity or irregular- 
ity, but now that you are advancing in life, have a 
family and children, the case is altered. Solid merit 
and virtue alone will support and carry you with 
credit through the world. 

" The principal danger to which a young man com- 
mencing under limited resources is exposed, and in 
which, if he errs, he inflicts the most incurable wound 
on his reputation, is the abuse of pecuniary confi- 
dence. Let me, therefore, warn you never to use your 
client's money. No temptation is greater to a person 
possessed of it than that which daily arises in the 
occurrences of a private family, to use this money, 
especially when the prospect of reimbursement fur- 

^ Gouvemeur MSS. 



PERSONALITY; DOMESTIC RELATIONS 213 

nishes the hope it may not be called for. But as the 
commencement of this practice breaks down to a 
certain degi-ee that chaste and delicate refinement, 
which forms the strongest barrier for the protection 
of virtue, it should never be commenced. 

" I would make it one of those sacred rules of my 
life which should not be violated, never to use it. I 
believe you have no passion for anything of that 
kind. I sincerely hope you have not. I suggest 
this hint, therefore, rather to guard you against a 
danger which assails every young man, than that I 
believe you likely to suffer by it. I mean the vice 
of gambling. I recollect there is a billiard table near 
you. Let me warn you against it. A passion of 
this kind will control, as it always has, every other. 
If it seizes you, your client's money will not be safe 
in your hands." 

Several sketches of Monroe, written at dif- 
ferent periods of his life, by different persons, 
will next be given. 

1799-1802. 

William Wirt, in the " Letters of a British 
Spy," which were published in a newspaper in 
1803, and afterwards reprinted in various forms, 
drew the portrait of Monroe at the time when 
first he was governor. It is an interesting 
sketch by itself, but still more so in connection 
with a pendent likeness of the illustrious Mar- 
shall, whose career began with that of Monroe, 



214 JAMES MONROE 

in the College o£ William and Mary, and whose 
life was almost exactly contemporaneous. 

" In his stature," says Wirt, " he is about the mid- 
dle height of men, rather firmly set, with nothing 
further remarkable in his person, except his muscular 
compactness and apparent ability to endure labor. 
His countenance, when grave, has rather the expres- 
sion of sternness and irascibility ; a smile, however 
(and a smile is not unusual with him in a social 
circle), lights it up to very high advantage, and gives 
it a most impressive and engaging air of suavity and 
benevolence. 

" His dress and personal appearance are those of a 
plain and modest gentleman. He is a man of soft, 
polite, and even assiduous attentions ; but these, al- 
though they are always well-timed, judicious, and 
evidently the offspring of an obliging and philan- 
thropic temper, are never performed with the striking 
and captivating graces of a Marlborough or a Boling- 
broke. To be plain, there is often in his manner an 
inartificial and even an awkward simplicity, whicli, 
while it provokes the smile of a more polished person, 
forces him to the opinion that Mr. Monroe is a man 
of a most sincere and artless soul." 

This is but a portion of the description. 

1825. 

A letter from Mrs. Tuley, then of Virginia, 
recently published,^ gives the following picture 

* Philadelphia Times 



PERSONALITY; DOMESTIC RELATIONS 215 

of the last levee at the White House, on New 
Year's clay, during Monroe's administration. 
When she entered the reception-room, 

" Mr. Monroe was standing near the door, and as 
we were introduced we had tlie honor of shaking 
hands with him and passing the usual congratulations 
of the season. My impressions of Mr. Monroe are 
very pleasing. He is tall and well formed. His 
dress plain and in the old style, small clothes, silk 
hose, knee-huckles, and pumps fastened with buckles. 
His manner was quiet and dignified. From the frank, 
honest expression of his eye, which is said to be ' the 
window of the soul,' I think he well deserves the 
encomium passed upon him by the great Jeffer- 
son, who said, ' Monroe was so honest that if you 
turned his soul inside out there would not be a spot 
on it.' 

" We passed on and were presented to Mrs. Monroe 
and her two daughters, Mrs. Judge Hay and Mrs. 
Gouverneur, who stood by their mother and assisted 
her in receiving. Mrs. Monroe's manner is very 
gracious and she is a regal-looking lady. Her dress 
was superb black velvet ; neck and arms bare and 
beautifully formed ; her hair in puffs and dressed 
high on the head and ornamented with white ostrich 
plumes ; around her neck an elegant pearl necklace. 
Though no longer young, she is still a very hand- 
some woman. You remember Mrs. told us that, 

when Mr. Monroe was sent as Minister to France, 
Mrs. Monroe accompanied him, and in Paris she was 



216 JAMES MONROE 

called Ha belle Americaine.' She also told us that 
she was quite a belle in New York in the latter part 
of the Revolutionary War. Her maiden name was 
Kortwright. Mrs. Judge Hay (the President's eldest 
daughter) is very handsome also — tall and graceful, 
and, I hear, very accomplished. She was educated 
in Paris at the celebrated boarding-school kept by 
Mme. Campan, and among her intimate school friends 
was the beautiful Hortense de Beauharnais, step- 
daughter of the Emperor Napoleon. Her dress was 
crimson velvet, gold cord and tassel round the waist, 
white plumes in the hair, handsome jewelry, bare 
neck and arms. The other daughter, Mrs. Gouver- 
neur, is also very handsome — dress, rich white satin, 
trimmed with a great deal of blonde lace, embroidei-ed 
with silver thread, bare neck and arms, pearl jewelry 
and white plumes in the hair. By the bye, plumes in 
the hair seem to be the most fashionable style of 
head-dress for married ladies. 

" All the lower rooms were opened, and though 
well filled, not uncomfortably so. The rooms were 
warmed by great fires of hickory wood in the large 
open fireplaces, and with the handsome brass and- 
irons and fenders quite remind me of our grand old 
wood fires in Virginia. Wine was handed about in 
wine-glasses on large silver salvers by colored waiters, 
dressed in dark livery, gilt buttons, etc. I suppose 
some of them must have come from Mr. Monroe's 
old family seat, ' Oak Hill,' Virginia." 



PERSONALITY; DOMESTIC RELATIONS 217 

1830. 

Here is an autographic sketch of the ex-Pre- 
sident's literary work, addressed to Mr. Gouver- 
neur : ^ — 

" I am engaged in a work which will be entitled 
' A biographical and historical view of the great 
events to which Mr. Monroe was a party and of 
which he was a spectator in the course of his pubhc 
service,' — commencing with my service in the army, 
in the legislature and council of the State, in the 
Revolutionary Congress and in the Senate. I have 
brought it to the conclusion of ray first mission to 
France, which would, if printed, make about one 
hundred and twenty pages, and with the appendix, 
should it be thought advisable to add one, perhaps 
as many more. This work to this stage miglit be 
published at an early period as introductory to the 
sequel, though, I being closely engaged in it, I could, 
if I have health, complete the whole in five or six 
months. I have composed in part another work, a 
comparison between our government and the ancient 
republics, and likewise with the government of Eng- 
land. Of this I have already extended it to a view 
of the government of Athens and Lacedemon, of 
Greece, of Carthage, with notes on that of Rome, to 
which I have drawn an introductory view of govern- 
ment and society as the basis of the work. This 
work I could also finish in about the same time, by 
devoting myself to it. What I have already written 
would occupy more pages than that above mentioned. 
^ Gouverneur MSS. 



218 JAMES MONROE 

My correspondence, when in the war department, of 
three hundred and ninety-four pages folio, I mean 
my own letters only, is another work which I intend 
at a proper time to publish. If my claims are re- 
jected I should wish to take the preparatory steps to 
a publication, by suitable notices in the public papers 
at the proper time. I think no part had better be 
published until that part is finished ; and to accom- 
plish which, that I had better devote myself to one 
of the works mentioned, exclusively in the first in- 
stance, the biographical one, for instance. I shall 
place occurrences and develop principles by a faithful 
attention to facts, manifesting no hostility to any one. 
The publication of any part cannot, I presume, be 
made till the fall, and no notice had better be taken 
of it till just before." 

1830. 
During the latter part of his life a gentleman 
who is now living in Charlottesville, Va., Judge 
E. R. Watson, was a member of Monroe's fam- 
ily, and retains a very vivid recollection of his 
appearance, occupations, and characteristics. He 
has been so kind as to prepare for insertion here 
the following reminiscences. 

Judge Watson's Recollections. 

" In person Mr. Monroe was about six feet high, 
perhaps rather more ; broad and square-shouldered 
and raw-boned. When I knew him he was an old 
man (more than seventy years of age), and he looked 



PERSONALITY; DOMESTIC RELATIONS 219 

/erhaps even older than he was, his face being 
strongly marked with the lines of anxiety and care. 
His mouth was rather large, his nose of medium size 
and well-shaped, his forehead broad, and his eyes 
blue approaching gray. Altogether his face was a 
little rugged ; and I do not suppose he was ever 
handsome, but in his younger days he must have 
been a man of fine physique, and capable of great 
endurance. As an illustration of this, I remember 
hearing him say that immediately preceding the oc- 
cupation of Washington by the British, and just after 
their retreat from the city, during the war of 1812, 
with the burden of three of the departments of the 
government resting upon him, — State, Treasury, and 
War, — he did not undress himself for ten days and 
nights, and was in the saddle the greater part of the 
time. There was no grace about Mr. Monroe, either 
in appearance or manner. He was, in fact, rather an 
awkward man, and, even in his old age, a diffident 
one. Nevertheless, there was a calm and quiet dig- 
nity about him with which no one in his presence 
could fail to be impressed, and he was one of the 
most polite men I ever saw to all ranks and classes. 
It was his habit, in his ride of a morning or evening, 
to bow and speak to the humblest slave whom he 
passed as respectfully as if he had been the first gen- 
tleman in the neighborhood. I have heard him de- 
fine true politeness as ' right feeling controlled by 
good common sense.' 

" I do not know that I ever witnessed in Mr, Mon- 
roe any actual outbreak of temper, but I was always 



220 JAMES MONROE 

impressed with the idea that he was a man of very 
strong feelings and passions, which, however, he had 
learned to control perfectly. I never heard him use 
an oath, or utter a word of profanity, and hence I 
was quite astonished when, on one occasion, I was 
talking with an old family servant about a gentleman 
who swore very hard, and he remarked, ' Bless your 
soul, you ought to hear old master ! He can give 
that man two in the deal and beat him.' In his 
intercourse with his family he was not only unvary- 
ingly kind and affectionate, but as gentle as a woman 
or a child. He was wholly unselfish. The wishes, 
the feelings, the interests, the happiness, of others 
were always consulted in preference to his own. 

" Being quite young at the time, I was not a very 
competent judge, but my recollection is that Mr. 
Monroe's conversational powers were not of a high 
order. He always used the plainest, simplest lan- 
guage, but was not fluent, and was, it seemed to me, 
wholly wanting in imagination. He lacked the ver- 
satility, and I should say also the general culture, 
requisite for shining in the social circle, but was 
always interesting and instructive ; when with good 
listeners he led in conversation, and talked of the 
scenes and events through which he had passed, et 
quorum magna pars fuit. Whilst I was a member 
of Mr. Monroe's family it was his habit, when the 
weather and his health would allow, and the presence 
of visitors did not prevent, to ride out morning and 
evening, and I was very often his only companion. 
On these occasions he always talked of the past, and 



PERSONALITY ; DOMESTIC RELATIONS 221 

I was strongly impressed with the idea that he must 
have been in his public career essentially a man of 
action ; content even that others might share the 
credit really due to him, if he could only enjoy the 
consciousness of doing his duty and rendering his 
country service. Love of country and devotion to 
duty appeared to me the explanation of his success 
in life and the honors bestowed upon him. There 
was not the least particle of conceit in Mr. Monroe, 
and yet he seemed always strongly to feel that he 
had rendered great public service. From Washing- 
ton to John Quincy Adams, he was the associate and 
co-laborer of the greatest and best men of his day. 
Yet he had no feeling of envy towards any of them ; 
and though he felt that some had not always treated 
him justly, he took far more pleasure in commending 
their high qualities and patriotic services than in re- 
ferring to his wrongs, real or imaginary. 

" One striking peculiarity about Mr. Monroe was 
his sensitiveness, his timidity in reference to public 
sentiment. I do not mean as it respected his past 
public life. As to that he appeared to feel secure. 
But in retirement his great care seemed to be to do 
and say nothing unbecoming in an ex-President of 
the United States. He thought it incumbent on him 
to have nothing to do with party politics. This was 
beneath the dignity of an ex -President, and it was 
unjust to the people, who had so highly honored him, 
to seek to throw the weight of his name and character 
on either side of any contest between them. Hence 
Mr. Monroe, after retiring from office, rarely, if ever, 



222 JAMES MONROE 

expressed his opinions of public men or measures, 
except confidentially. Over and over again, in the 
early days of Jackson's administration, did he speak 
freely to me of that remarkable nian, of Mr. Cal- 
houn, Mr. Webster, Mr. Clay, and others scarcely 
less prominent, as well as of the principles and mea- 
sures with which they were respectively identified ; 
but always with the injunction that what he said was 
never to be repeated. I recollect well to this day 
some of his opinions as then expressed, and have 
often regretted that I did not make some note of 
them all. But the truth is, I was so much afraid 
that in some unguarded moment I might betray the 
confidence reposed in me, that I sought rather to for- 
get than to treasure up what he said about men and 
measures of the day. 

" I cannot recall more than a single instance in 
which, in company, he expressed any opinion as to 
the character or conduct of prominent public men, 
except in so far as he could approve and commend 
them. On one occasion John Randolph of Roanoke 
was the subject of discussion among several gentle- 
men present, who differed widely in their estimates 
of his character and services. Finally Mr. Monroe 
was appealed to for his opinion by one of Mr. Ran- 
dolph's admirers, in a way which indicated that the 
party addressing him scarcely expected any direct 
answer. Very promptly, however, Mr. Monroe re- 
plied, ' Well, Mr. Randolph is, I think, a ca])ital 
hand to pull down, but I am not aware that he has 
ever exhibited much skill as a builder.' 



PERSONALITY ; DOMESTIC RELATIONS 223 

"Mr. Monroe's official life was marked by the 
same deference to and fear of offending public senti- 
ment. My impression is that during his whole pre- 
sidential term he appointed no relative or near con- 
nection to office. His two sons-in-law were George 
Hay of Virginia, and Samuel L. Gouverneur of New 
York. The former was a lawyer of eminent ability 
and a man of the very highest character, and was 
promptly appointed to a federal judgeship (the 
same now held by Judge Hughes of Virginia) by 
John Quincy Adams ; but he received nothing at the 
hands of Mr. Monroe. And so with Mr. Gouver- 
neur ; he was a talented and popular young man, of 
one of the best families of New York, but he received 
no federal appointment till Mr. Adams had suc- 
ceeded Mr. Monroe. Then Adams made him post- 
master of New York. Judge Hay had a son (by his 
first marriage), Charles Hay, who was made chief 
clerk of the Navy Department under Mr. Adams, 
but held no office under Mr. Monroe. The latter, as 
I heard from his own lips, was not willing, in making 
any appointment, to lay himself liable even to the 
suspicion of being influenced by any other considera- 
tion than the public good. 

" Though Mr. Monroe in early life practiced law, 
I feel very sure he could not have been a very good 
speaker. He wrote with no great facility, but with 
pains. His handwriting was very bad. Some time 
in 1829, possibly in 1830, by his horse falling with 
him, he sprained his right wrist very badly, and for 
some time could not write at all. I often acted as his 



224 JAMES MONROE 

amanuensis. His correspondence was imnaense, and 
with the best and wisest men of his day. I do not 
remember whether he kept copies of his letters. I 
rather think he did not. But I have often thought 
that from those written to him there might be gathered 
a vast amount of vahiable material bearing upon the 
liistory of the country, and the character and conduct 
of its public men. 

"I have intimated that Mr. Monroe was probably 
deficient in general culture. If this be true, it is 
equally true that he was a student of history, espe- 
cially of ancient history. Whilst I was with him he 
completed the manuscript of a little work entitled, I 
think, ' A Comparison of the American Republic with 
the Republics of Greece and Rome.' Every line of 
this I copied for him. On its completion he showed it 
to Judge Hay (who, with his family, lived with him), 
and asked him to read it and tell him what he thought 
of it. I well remember that, after examining it, 
Judge Hay said to Mr. Monroe, ' I think your time 
could have been better employed. If the framers of 
our Constitution could have had some work, from a 
modern standpoint, on the Constitutions of Greece 
and Rome, it might have been of value to them. I do 
not think yours is of practical value now. A history 
of your Life and Times, written by yourself, would 
really be interesting and valuable.' The idea seemed 
quite new to Mr. Monroe. Such was his modesty 
and self-depreciation that he had never thought of 
it before. The suggestion, however, had controlling 
weight, and Mr. Monroe immediately began to pre- 



PERSONALITY ; DOMESTIC RELATIONS 225 

pare such a work, and made some progress in it, but 
how much I cannot say. His memory of past events 
was remarkable ; and as, from the very beginning of 
the Revolution, when he became a member of Wash- 
ington's military family, to the close of his presi- 
dency, he was intimately associated with the govern- 
ment and those who controlled it, it is greatly to be 
deplored that his life and health were not spared to 
enable him to complete the work. It might not have 
been distinguished by hterary merit, but it would 
have been marked, in my humble judgment, by a 
degree of truth, impartiality, and justice which never 
have been and never wiU be surpassed by any hu- 
man production. I have often wondered what had 
become of this fragment of Mr. Monroe's ' Life and 
Times,' as well as the little work which I copied for 
him. 

" Mr. Monroe was warmly attached to his friends. 
He never forgot a service rendered him, whether in 
public or private life. But in his friendship and 
affection for Mr. Madison there was something touch- 
ing and beautiful. Washington and Jefferson he 
greatly admired, but Mr. Madison he loved with 
his whole heart. They were once rival candidates 
for office, but, from what I have heard Mr. Monroe 
say, I do not suppose there was ever, for a single 
moment, the slightest feeling of estrangement or un- 
kindness between them. 

" I have several times seen them together at Mont- 
pelier, and, as it seemed to me, it was only in Mr. 
Madison's society that Mr. Monroe could lay aside 



226 JAMES MONROE 

his usual seriousness and indulge in the humorous 
jest and merry laugh, as if he were young again. 

" Mrs. Monroe was Eliza Kortvvriglit of New 
York, the niece, J think, of General Knox, of Revo- 
lutionary fame. Even in old age and feeble health 
she bore traces of having been very beautiful in early 
life. She survived Judge Hay but a short time. I 
was at Oak Hill, on a visit, when she died. She was 
not buried for several days, the delay being occasioned 
by the construction of a vault, designed not only for 
her remains but for those also of Mr. Monroe, as he 
himself told me. I shall never forget the touching 
grief manifested by the old man on the morning after 
Mrs. Monroe's death, when he sent for me to go to 
his room, and with trembling frame and streaming 
eyes spoke of the long years they had spent happily 
together, and expressed in strong terms his conviction 
that he would soon follow her. In this connection he 
spoke of his purpose to build a vault for the remains 
of both of tiiem ; and I have often thought it would 
have been well if, when Virginia caused his remains to 
be removed to Richmond, those of Mrs. Monroe had 
been also removed and laid side by side with them. 

" The death of JNIr. Monroe occurred on the 4th of 
July of the next year (1831), at the residence of his 
son-in-law, Mr. Gouverneur, in the city of New York. 
I have a strong impression that Mr. Monroe either 
told me in person, or wrote to me, that his purpose in 
going to New York was not only to visic his daughter, 
but especially to see his friend William Wirt, to 
whom he was devotedly attached." 



PERSONALITY; DOMESTIC RELATIONS 227 

Here are two almost pathetic letters, one from 
Monroe to Madison, the other from Madison to 
Monroe, written in the spring of 1831. 

MONKOE TO MADISON * 

I have intended for some time to write and ex- 
plain to you the arrangement I have made for my 
future residence, and respecting my private affairs 
with a view to my comfort, so far as I may expect 
it, but it has been painful to me to execute it. 

My ill state of health continuing, consisting of a 
cough, which annoys me by night and by day with 
considerable expectoration, considering my advanced 
years, although my lungs are not affected, renders 
the restoration of my health very uncertain, or in- 
deed any favorable change in it. In such a state I 
could not reside on my farm. The solitude would be 
very distressing, and its cares very burdensome. It 
is the wish of both my daughters, and of the whole 
connection, that I should remain here and receive 
their good offices, which I have decided to do. I do 
not wish to burden them. It is my intention to rent 
a house near Mr. Gouverneur, and to live within my 
own resources so far as I may be able. I could make 
no establishment of any kind without the sale of my 
property in Loudoun, which I have advertised for 
the 8 th of June, and given the necessary power to 
Mr. Gouverneur and my nephew James. If my 
health will permit, I will visit it in the interim and 
arrange affairs there for that event and my removal 
1 Monroe MSS. 



228 JAMES MONROE 

here. The accounting officers have made no decision 
on my claims, and have given me much trouble. I 
have written them that I would make out no account 
adapted to the act, which fell far short of making 
me a just reparation, and that I had rather lose the 
whole sum than give to it any sanction, be the conse- 
quences what they may. I never recovered from the 
losses of the first mission, to which those of the 
second added considerably. 

It is very distressing to me to sell my property in 
Loudoun, for, besides parting with all I have in the 
State, I indulged a hope, if I could retain it, that I 
might be able occasionally to visit it, and meet my 
friends, or many of them, there. But ill health and 
advanced years prescribe a course which we must 
pursue. I deeply regret that there is no prospect of 
our ever meeting again, since so long have we been 
connected, and in the most friendly intercourse, in 
public and private life, that a final separation is 
among the most distressing incidents which could oc- 
cur. I shall resign my seat as a visitor at the Board 
in due time to enable the Executive to fill the vacancy, 
that my successor may attend the next meeting. I 
beg you to assure Mrs. Madison that I never can for- 
get the friendly relation which has existed between 
her and my family. It often reminds me of incidents 
of the most interesting character. My daughter, Mrs. 
Hay, will live with me, who, with the whole family 
here, unite in affectionate regards to both of you. 

Very sincerely, your friend, 

J. M. 
New York, April 11, 1831. 



PERSONALITY; DOMESTIC RELATIONS 229 

MADISON TO MONROE * 

MoNTPELiEB, April 21, 1831. 

Dear Sir, — I have duly received yours of [April 
11]. I considered the advertisement of your estate 
in Loudoun as an omen that your friends in Virginia 
were to lose you. It is impossible to gainsay the 
motives to which you yielded in making New York 
your residence, though I fear you will find its cli- 
mate unsuited to your period of life and the state of 
your health. I just observe, and with much pleasure, 
that the sum voted by Congress, however short of 
just calculations, escapes the loppings to which it was 
exposed from the accounting process at Washington, 
and that you are so far relieved from the vexations 
involved in it. The result will, I hope, spare you at 
least the sacrifice of an untimely sale of your valu- 
able property ; and I would fain flatter myself that, 
with an encouraging improvement of your health, 
you might be brought to reconsider the arrangement 
which fixes you elsewhere. The effect of this, in 
closing the prospect of our ever meeting again, afflicts 
me deeply ; certainly not less so than it can you. 

The pain I feel at the idea, associated as it is with 
a recollection of the long, close, and uninterrupted 
friendship which united us, amounts to a pang which 
I cannot well express, and which makes me seek for 
an alleviation in the possibility that you may be 
brought back to us in the wonted degree of inter- 
course. This is a happiness my feelings covet, not- 

^ Madison's Writings, vol. iv. pp. 178-179. 



230 JAMES MONROE 

withstanding the short period I could expect to en- 
joy it ; being now, though in comfortable health, a 
decade beyond the canonical three-score and ten, an 
epoch which you have but just passed. 

As you propose to make a visit to Loudoun pre- 
vious to the notified sale, if the state of your health 
permits, why not, with the like permission, extend 
the trip to this quarter ? The journey, at a rate of 
your own choice, might cooperate in the reestablish- 
ment of your health, whilst it would be a peculiar 
gratification to your friends, and, perhaps, enable you 
to join your colleagues at the university once more 
at least. It is much to be desired that you should 
continue, as long as possible, a member of the Boai'd, 
and I hope you will not send in your resignation in 
case you find your cough and weakness giving way 
to the influence of the season and the innate strength 
of your constitution. I will not despair of your be- 
ing able to keep up your connection with Virginia 
by retaining Oak Hill and making it not less than an 
occasional residence. Whatever may be the turn of 
things, be assured of the unchangeable interest felt 
by Mrs. Madison, as well as myself, in your welfare, 
and in that of all who are dearest to you. 

In explanation of my microscopic writing, I must 
remark that the older I grow the more my stiffening 
fingers make smaller letters, as my feet take shorter 
steps, the progress in both cases being, at the same 
time, more fatiguing as well as more slow. 



CHAPTER X 

RETROSPECT — REPUTATION 

Monroe retired from his high office March 
4, 1825, and during the seven years which re- 
mained of his life divided his time between his 
home at Oak Hill, in Loudoun County, Virginia, 
and the residence of his daughter, Mrs. Gouver- 
neur, in the city of New York. He accepted 
the post of regent in the University of Vir- 
ginia, which was instituted in 1826, and gave 
his personal attention to the duties of the office, 
with Jefferson and Madison. He was asked to 
serve on the electoral ticket of Virginia in 1828, 
but declined to do so, on the ground that an 
ex-President should refrain from an active par- 
ticipation in political contests. He consented, 
however, to act as a local magistrate and to 
become a member of the Virginia constitu- 
tional convention, which assembled a little later. 
He maintained an active correspondence with 
friends at home and abroad, and, what is much 
more remarkable, he undertook to compose a 
philosophical history of the origin of free gov- 



232 JAMES MONROE 

ernments, for which his literary training was 
quite inadequate. This treatise was published 
in 1867. 

Monroe, throughout his later days, was 
somewhat embarrassed in his pecuniary cir- 
cumstances, and spent a great deal of time in 
endeavoring to secure from Congress a just re- 
imbursement for the heavy expenses in which 
he had been involved during his prolonged ser- 
vices abroad. It is truly pitiful to perceive the 
straits to which so patriotic a servant of the 
country, against whose financial integrity not 
a word was uttered, was reduced ; particularly 
when the expenditures he had incurred were, 
to a very large amount, required by the posi- 
tions to which his countrymen had called him, 
and for which they made inadequate remunera- 
tion. No private subscription came to honor 
or relieve him. Lafayette, with a generous 
impulse and with great delicacy of procedure, 
offered him relief.^ Some allowance was at 
length made by Congress, and after his death 
his heirs received a moderate sum for the pa- 
pers he had preserved. His old age was much 
given to retrospection, doubtless quickened by 
the necessity of reviewing his accounts in justifi- 
cation of his claims. A letter to Judge McLean 
may be found in his manuscripts, with a note 

^ Ante, page 154. 



RETROSPECT — REPUTATION 233 

that the form was altered, though the spirit was 
preserved.^ It reads as follows : — 

MONROE TO JOHN MCLEAN 

Oak Hill, December 5, 1827. 

I have read with great interest your letter of the 
15th ult. The course which you have pursued in 
the administration corresponds with that which I had 
anticipated. I am satisfied that you had done your 
duty to your country, and acquitted yourself to the 
just claims of those with whom you were officially 
connected. 

It has afforded me great pleasure to find that the 
department had considerably improved, under your 
management, in all the great objects of the institu- 
tion, the more extensive circulation of pohtical and 
commercial inteUigence among the great body of our 
fellow-citizens and the augmentation of the revenue. 
This sentiment seems to be general throughout the 
community, which it would not be if it was not con- 
firmed by unquestionable evidence. By the faithful 
and useful discharge of your public duties you have 
given the best support which could be rendered to 
the administration of Mr. Adams, and of which he 
must be sensible. No person at the head of the gov- 
ernment has, in my opinion, any claim to the active 
partisan exertions of those in office under him. Jus- 
tice to his public acts, friendly feelings, and a candid 
and honorable deportment towards him, without for- 
getting what is due to others, are all that he has a 
1 Monroe MSS. 



234 JAMES MONROE 

right to expect, and in those I am satisfied you have 
never failed. Your view, in regard to my concerns, 
corresponds also with my own. I shall never apply 
again to Congress, let my situation be what it may. 
The only point on which my mind has balanced is, 
•whether the republication of my memoir, remarks, 
and documents, in a pamphlet, would be proper 
and useful. Those papers relate to important public 
events in both my missions and in the late war, and 
since, while I held an office in the administration. I 
was charged with a failure to perform my duty in 
my first mission, and recalled from it and censured. 

The book which I published on my return home, 
with the official documents which it contained, vindi- 
cated me against the charge, and on that ground I 
then left it. The parties are since dead, and I am 
now retired to private life. I never doubted the 
perfect integrity of General Washington, nor the 
strength or energy of his mind, and was personally 
attached to him. I admired his patriotism, and had 
full confidence in his attachment to liberty and soli- 
citude for the success of the French Revolution. 

It being necessary to advert to that occurrence, in 
my communication to the committee which was first 
appointed on my claims, I availed myself of the oc- 
casion to express a sentiment corresponding with the 
above in his favor, as I likewise did in the memoir 
since published. The documents published with it 
prove, in minute detail, not only that I faithfully 
performed my duty to my country, but exerted ray 
best faculties, on all occasions, in support of his char- 



RETROSPECT— REPUTATION 235 

acter and fame. The letters of Major Mountflorence, 
which I had forfjotten that I possessed, are material 
on both points. They prove that the French govern- 
ment charged me vv^ith having prevented it from tak- 
ing measures which it deemed due to the honor of 
France, for eight months, and that it had withdrawn 
its confidence from, and ceased to communicate with 
me at the very moment when I was recalled by my 
own government. Major Mountflorence was no par- 
ticular friend or associate of mine. I found him in 
France, on my arrival there. He was the friend of 
Mr. Morris, my predecessor, and, as I understand, 
from Tennessee. Mr. Skipwith employed him as the 
chancellor in his office, on account of his acquaintance 
with our affairs and knowledge of the Fi-ench lan- 
guage. He passed daily, on the business of the 
consulate, through the several departments of the 
government, and was acquainted with the principal 
officers, especially the clerks in each, and on that 
account I instructed him to make the inquiries to 
which his reports relate. All the other documents 
correspond with and support his statement, which 
they extend to other objects that are very interesting. 
I was likewise charged in that mission Avith specu- 
lation, in consequence of a purchase which I made of 
a house. The documents published show clearly the 
motive which led me into that measure, as they do 
my intention to offer it to my government, on my 
resignation and return,, on the terms on which I 
bought it ; being recalled, and the minister sent to 
replace me not received, such an offer would have 



236 JAMES MONROE 

been absurd. Besides, I was forced to sell it to en- 
able me to leave the country ; and even then I lost 
one half of the price given for it, as I believe, in 
consequence of my recall and the circumstances under 
which I left it. An important examination of the 
state of our affairs on my arrival in Fi-ance, the 
seizure of our vessels, jealousy of our views, and 
distress of our citizens there, and the change produced 
on my appeal and presentation to the convention, 
with the offer of a house, etc., will, I think, enable 
any candid person, aided by the documents referred 
to, to decide whether my motive in making that pur- 
chase was a private or a public one. That it had the 
desired effect was the opinion of all my fellow-citizens 
there, who had earnestly advised me to it. 

The documents relating to my second mission are 
likewise very interesting. The call made on me by 
Mr. Jefferson, the manner of the call, and circum- 
stances under which I left the country, with the losses 
attending it, are fully shown, as are the consequences, 
resulting from the mission. Those were not known 
before, and the latter had been misrepresented and 
were by many misunderstood. They were never 
used to promote my election to any oflBce. 

This memoir, with the remarks and documents, 
form a case between my country and me, and, being 
collected in a pamphlet, will be better understood 
and more easily preserved. If not true in a single 
instance, let it be shown. I know that they are true 
in every one, and am not afraid of the sevei^est scru- 
tiny, should the proof presented be deemed inade- 



RETROSPECT — REPUTATION 237 

quate in any circumstance. The preservation of them 
may tend to give a coloring, or rather character, to 
some of the wants to which they relate. 

With my conduct in the offices in the city, at the 
most difficult periods, you are well acquainted in the 
outline, having been a large portion of the time in 
Congress, and in confidential communication with me. 
You know that I was called into the Department of 
War on a great emergency, and by that emergency, 
not by any desire of mine. Many circumstances, 
however, occurred while I was in that department, 
with which I wish to make you acquainted, and espe- 
cially those which relate to the measures taken for 
the defense of New Orleans in the late war. Re- 
presentations have been given of my conduct in that 
instance very injurious to me. 

To the gallantry and very meritorious conduct of 
General Jackson there, I have always done, and shall 
do, full justice. I wish, however, to make you fully 
acquainted with the part I have acted towards him 
in that and some other instances, which have since 
occurred. By such a view you will be able to judge 
whether I have acted fairly towards him, and taken 
responsibility on myself for him, from motives of 
friendship, or acted a different part. The papers, 
which I wish to show you, are original. I do not 
wish you to come here at this time, and am inclined 
to think you had better not. If you see no impro- 
priety in it, I will inclose to you the papers which, 
after perusing them, I wish you to return to me 
immediately, and without showing or letting it be 



238 JAMES MONROE 

known to any person existing that you had ever seen 
them. 

On the question of republication and the subject 
to which it relates, above referred to, I shall be glad 
to receive your opinion when convenient. 

In these last years his quiet was disturbed by 
a controversy, already mentioned, as to the ac- 
tion of his cabinet in respect to the proceedings 
of General Jackson. The irritation appears to 
have begun in 1827. 

His son-in-law, Mr. Gouverneur, referring to 
an article which had appeared in a Tennessee 
paper, and reflected discredit on Monroe's ad- 
ministration, expressed to Monroe great surprise 
that such an article should have been written 
with Jackson's approbation. 

" That injustice might be attempted," he says (May 
24, 1827), "by the heated partisans of the day for 
their own purposes, I can readily conceive, but that 
General Jackson, with whom you have so long pre- 
served the most intimate relations of friendship, and 
whose public character you have so frequently sus- 
tained during the most perilous periods of your ad- 
ministration, should authorize that injustice, I should 
not only be slow to believe but most deeply regret. 
It certainly is at variance with all the feelings I have 
ever entertained of his character, which I thought had 
been fully justified in all the incidents of his life. It 
is undoubtedly desirable that you should collect such 



RETROSPECT — REPUTATION 239 

evidences as are in your possession, and to which you 
may now liave access, as relate to the period in ques- 
tion. It is among the most interesting of our his- 
tory, and must be so regarded by posterity. How 
far it may be advisable to use them in any shape at 
this time, I think depends on what may occur here- 
after, and the circumstances which may arise to call 
for it. Your position is one of a defensive character, 
if necessary, and I do not think requires anything 
from you which may invite attack. When it comes 
I should consider you at full liberty to meet it by all 
the evidences of which you may be able to avail your- 
self." 

His dread of any financial action which should 
endanger the Union is clearly brought out in a 
letter to John C. Calhoun, February 16, 1830,i 
in reply to one which he had received from his 
former secretary. 

" Nothing can be more distressing to me than the 
approach or possibility of a crisis, which may, in its 
consequences, endanger our Union. I trust, how- 
ever, that the patriotism, intelligence, and virtue of 
the people, and of those who may fill our public 
councils at the epoch you refer to, wUl rescue us from 
such a danger. Satisfied I am that nothing can be 
so calamitous to every section of the Union as a dis- 
memberment. With such an event our republican 
system would soon go to wreck ; wars would take 
place between the new States as they did between the 
^ Gouverneur MSS. 



240 JAMES MONROE 

ancient republics, and now do between the powers of 
Europe ; and we to the south, where so large a por- 
tion of the population consists of slaves, would by do- 
mestic conjunctions be most apt to fall the victims. 

" From the close of our Revolution we have looked 
to the extinction of the public debt as a period of 
peculiar felicity. There is, I believe, no other gov- 
ernment or people in existence who are thus blessed. 
That this epoch should lay the foundation for such 
a calamity would be an event without example. I 
think with you that the interesting questions which 
you state will, in the discussion, excite much feeling, 
and may, in the view which the different sections 
may take of their local interests, put them for a 
while in a marked opposition to each other. Each 
however will, I trust, weigh the subject calmly, and 
be willing to make some concession and even sacri- 
fices to save our republican system." 

There are many estimates of Monroe to be 
met with in the memoirs of his contemporaries. 
Washington's early praise has already been 
quoted. Jefferson said of him, " He is a man 
whose soul might be turned wrong side outwards 
without discoverins: a blemish to the world." 
Madison used this language : " His understand- 
ing was very much underrated ; his judgment 
was particularly good ; few men have made more 
of what may be called sacrifices in the service 
of the public." John Quincy Adams delivered 
a eulogy, the last pages of which glow with 



RETROSPECT — REPUTATION 241 

praise "of a mind, anxious and unwearied in 
the pursuit of truth and right, patient of inquiry, 
patient of contradiction, courteous even in the 
collision of sentiment, sound in its ultimate 
judgments, and firm in its final conclusions." 
John McLean gave emphasis to the purity of 
his action in making executive appointments : — 
" Personal motives, either as they regarded the 
President himself or the person appointed, were 
lost in higher considerations of duty." Web- 
ster, in 1825, declared that " the administration 
now closed had been in general highly satisfac- 
tory to the country. It could not be said," he 
continued, " that that administration had either 
been supported or opposed by any party associa- 
tions, or on any party principles." Calhoun, the 
stern and stately Calhoun, is effusive in the terms 
which he employs when speaking of the Presi- 
dent in whose cabinet he served. One of the 
most elaborate estimates of Monroe's career is 
that of Benton, which deserves to be quoted. 

"Mr. Monroe had none of the mental qualities 
which dazzle and astonish mankind ; but he had a 
discretion which seldom committed a mistake ; an 
integrity that always looked to the public good ; a 
firmness of will which carried him resolutely upon 
his object ; a diligence which mastered every subject ; 
and a perseverance that yielded to no obstacle or re- 
verse. 



242 Ji^MES MONROE 

"He began his patriotic career in the military ser- 
vice at the coniinencenient of the war of tlie Revolu- 
tion, went into the General Assembly of his native 
State at an early age, and thence, while still young, 
into the Continental Congress. There he showed 
his character, and laid the foundation of his future 
political fortunes in his uncompromising opposition 
to the plan of a treaty with Spain, by which the 
navigation of the Mississippi was to be given up for 
twenty-five years in return for commercial privileges. 
It was the qualities of judgment and perseverance 
which he displayed on that occasion which brought 
him those calls to dijjlomacy in which he was after- 
wards so much employed with three of the then 
greatest European ])0wers, — France, Spain, Great 
Britain. And it was in allusion to this circumstance 
that President Jefferson afterwards, when the right 
of deposit at New Orleans had been violated by 
Spain, and when a minister was wanted to recover it, 
said, ' Monroe is the man ; the defense of the Mis- 
sissippi belongs to him.' And under this appoint- 
ment he had the felicity to put his name to the treaty 
which secured the Mississippi, its navigation and all 
the territory drained by its western waters, to the 
United States forever. Several times in his life he 
seemed to miscarry and to fall from the top to the 
bottom of the political ladder, but always to reascend 
as high or higher than ever. Recalled by Washing- 
ton from the French mission, to which he had been 
appointed from the Senate of the United States, he 
returned to the starting point of his early career, the 



RETROSPECT — REPUTATION 243 

General Assembly of his State, served as a member 
from his county, was elected Governor, and from that 
post was restored by Jefferson to the French mission, 
soon to be followed by the embassies to Spain and 
England. Becoming estranged from Mr. Madison 
about the time of that gentleman's first election to 
the presidency, and having returned from his missions 
a little mortified that Mr. Jefferson had rejected his 
British treaty without sending it to the Senate, he 
was again at the foot of the political ladder, and ap- 
parently out of favor with those who were at its top. 
Nothing despairing he went back to the old starting 
point, served again in the Virginia General Assem- 
bly, was again elected Governor, and from that post 
was called to the cabinet of Mr. Madison, to be 
his double secretary of state and war. He was the 
effective power in the declaration of war against Great 
Britain. His residence abroad had shown him that 
unavenged British wrongs were lowering our charac- 
ter with Europe, and that war with the ' mistress of 
the seas ' was as necessary to our respectability in 
the eyes of the world, as to the security of our citi- 
zens and commerce upon the ocean. He brought up 
Mr. Madison to the war point. He drew the war 
report which the Committee on Foreign Relations 
presented to the House, that report which the ab- 
sence of Mr. Peter B. Porter, the chairman, and the 
hesitancy of Mr. Grundy, the second on the commit- 
tee, threw into the hands of Mr. Calhoun, the third 
on the list and the youngest of the committee, and 
the presentation of which immediately gave him a 



244 JAMES MONROE 

national reputation. Prime mover of the war, he 
was also one of its most efficient supporters, taking 
upon himself, when adversity pressed, the actual 
duties of war minister, financier, and foreign secre- 
tary at the same time. He was an enemy to all extra- 
vagance, to all intrigue, to all indirection in the con- 
duct of business. Mr. Jefferson's comprehensive and 
compendious eulogium upon him, as brief as true, 
was the faithful description of the man — ' honest 
and brave.' He was an enemy to nepotism, and no 
consideration or entreaty, no need of the support 
which an oflBce would give, or intercession from 
friends, could ever induce him to appoint a relative 
to any place under the government. He had op- 
posed the adoption of the Constitution until amend- 
ments were obtained ; but these had, he became one 
of its firmest supporters, and labored faithfully, 
anxiously, and devotedly to administer it in its 
purity." 

On reviewing all that I have been able to 
read in print and in manuscript, and all I have 
been able to gather from the writings of others, 
the conclusion is forced on me that Monroe is 
not adequately appreciated by his countrymen. 
He has certainly been insufficiently known, be- 
cause no collection has been made of his numer- 
ous memoirs, letters, dispatches, and messages. 
That want is now [1898] about to be supplied 
by the collection already mentioned. He has 
suffered also by comparison with four or five 



RETROSPECT — REPUTATION 245 

illustrious men, his seniors in years and his supe- 
riors in genius, who were chiefly instrumental in 
establishing this government on its firm basis. 
He was not the equal of Washington in pru- 
dence, of Marshall in wisdom, of Hamilton in 
constructive power, of Jefferson in genius for 
politics, of Madison in persistent ability to 
think out an idea and to persuade others of its 
importance. He was in early life enthusiastic 
to rashness, he was a devoted adherent of par- 
tisan views, he was sometimes despondent and 
sometimes irascible ; but as he grew older his 
judgment was disciplined, his self-control became 
secure, his patriotism overbalanced the consider- 
ations of party. Political opponents rarely as- 
sailed the purity of his motives or the honesty of 
his conduct. He was a very good civil service re- 
former, firmly set against appointments to office 
for any unworthy reason. He was never exposed 
to the charge of nepotism, and in the choice of 
officers to be appointed he carefully avoided the 
recognition of family and friendly ties. His hands 
were never stained with pelf. He grew poor in 
the public service, because he neglected his pri- 
vate affairs and incurred large outlays in the 
discharge of official duties under circumstances 
which demanded liberal expenditure. He was 
extremely reticent as to his religious sentiments, 
at least in all that he wrote. Allusions to his 



246 JAMES MONROE 

belief are rarely if ever to be met with in his 
correspondence. He was a faithful husband, 
father, master, neighbor, friend. He was indus- 
trious, serious,, temperate, domestic, affectionate. 
He carried with him to the end of his life the 
good-will and respect both of his seniors and 
juniors. Many of those who worked with him, 
besides those already quoted, have left on record 
their appreciation of his abilities and their es- 
teem for his character. 

His numerous state papers are not remark- 
able in style or in thought, but his views were 
generally sound, the position which he took in 
later life on public questions was approved by 
the public voice, and his administration is known 
as the "era of good feeling." His attention 
does not seem to have been called in any special 
manner to the significance of slavery as an ele- 
ment of political discord, or as an evil in itself. 
If he foresaw, he did not foretell the great con- 
flict. He does not seem expert in the principles 
of national finance, though his views are often 
expressed on such matters. 

The one idea which he represents consistently 
from the beginning to the end of his career is this, 
that America is for Americans. He resists the 
British sovereignty in his early youth ; he insists 
on the importance of free navigation in the Mis- 
sissippi ; he negotiates the purchase of Louisiana 



RETROSPECT - REPUTATION 247 

and Florida ; he gives a vigorous impulse to the 
prosecution of the second war with Great Britain, 
when neutral rights were endangered ; finally he 
announces the " Monroe doctrine." 

It is clear that he was under gi-eat obligations 
to Jefferson. The aid and counsel of this saga- 
cious man are apparent from the time when 
Monroe began the study of law, in adverse and 
in prosperous times, in public and in private 
matters, throughout their long lives. Madison's 
friendship was also a powerful support. But 
both these men could not have sustained Mon- 
roe through his varied career, in circumstances 
which required popular approbation, if he had 
not possessed some very uncommon qualities. 
As a youth he must have been bright and attrac- 
tive. In early manhood he was devoted to his 
party beyond reasonable requirements, so that he 
nearly involved the country in war. As he grew 
older he was less of a partisan. He retained 
an accurate remembrance of the men and mea- 
sures with which he had been associated, and 
he acquired experience in almost every variety 
of public station, the judiciary excepted, until 
he reached the very highest office in the land. 
He was trained for the presidency in the school 
of affairs and not in a ring. An ideal prepara- 
tion for the duties of that high station would 
hardly involve any kind of discipline to which 



248 JAMES MONROE 

the business of life had not subjected him. He 
made enemies ; the Federalists, South as well as 
North, disliked him and undervalued him ; but 
notwithstanding their hostile criticism he sus- 
tained himself so well that but one electoral 
vote was given against his reelection, and it is 
said that this was cast by an elector who did not 
wish to see a second President chosen with the 
same unanimity which had honored Washington. 

When the collected writings of Monroe come 
before the public, as they soon will, his work 
will be more accurately estimated, and I think 
more highly valued. Partisan as he was, often 
exposed to censure from the Federalists, never 
rising to the highest statesmanship except when 
he announced the Monroe doctrine, he will 
always appear patriotic, indefatigable, and un- 
selfish. As a legislator, envoy, cabinet min- 
ister, and president, he was true, often under 
trying circumstances, to the idea of American 
independence from European interference. 

Monroe died' in New York, July 4, 1831, and 
was buried there with appropriate honors. Years 
afterward Virginians desired that his dust should 
mingle with the soil of his native State. His 
body was carried to Richmond, under the escort 
of a favorite regiment of New York, and re- 
interred in the public cemetery just one hundred 
years after his eyes first saw the light. 



APPENDIX 



GENEALOGY 

I HAVE not been successful in tracing the pedigree 
of James Monroe. Mr. R. C Brock, of the Virginia 
Historical Society, has kindly searched the Virginia 
archives, and finds that successive grants of land were 
made to Andrew Monroe from 1650 to 1662, and to 
John Monroe from 1695 to 1719. He has also come 
upon an old statement that Andrew Monroe came to 
this country in 1660, after the defeat of the royal 
army, in which he had the rank of major, and settled 
in Westmoreland County, Virginia. With this cita- 
tion it is well to compare a recent paragraph, in 
respect to the Monroes of Eastern Massachusetts, in 
F. B. Sanborn's " Life of Thoreau : " — 

" The Monroes of Lexington and Concord are de- 
scended from a Scotch soldier of Charles II.'s army, 
captured by Cromwell at the battle of Worcester in 
1651, and allowed to go into exile in America. His 
powerful kinsman, General George Monro, who com- 
manded for Charles at the battle of Worcester, was. 



250 APPENDIX 

at the Restoration, made commander-in-chief for Scot- 
land." ^ 

Mr. Brock suggests that the family of Jones, to 
which the mother of James Monroe helongs, was the 
same with that of Adjutant-General Robert Jones, 
Commodore Thomas Catesby Jones, General Walker 
Jones, and other distinguished Americans. 

The private residence of Monroe during the latter 
part of his life was at Oak Hill, near Aldie, Loudoun 
County, Virginia, on a turnpike running south from 
Leesbnrg to Aldie, about nine miles from the former 
and three from the latter place. 

Major R. W. N. Noland has been so kind as to 
prepare, at the suggestion of Professor J. M. Gar- 
nett of the University of Virginia, a sketch of Oak 
Hill, as follows : — 

The Oak Hill house was planned by Mr. Monroe, but 
the building superintended by Mr. William Benton, an 
Englishman, who occupied the mixed relation to Mr. Mon- 
roe of steward, counselor, and friend. The house is built 
of brick in a most substantial manner, and handsomely 
finished ; it is, perhaps, about 90 x 50 feet, three stories 
(including basement), and has a wide portico, fronting 
south, with massive Doric columns thirty feet high, and is 
surrounded by a grove of magnificent oaks covering sev- 
eral acres. While the location is not as commanding as 
many others in that section, being in lower Loudoun where 
the rolling character of the Piedmont region begins to 
loose itself in the flat lands of tide water, the house iu 
two directions commands an attractive and somewhat ex- 

^ Compare Savage, New England Genealogical Dictionary, 
iii. 256, 257. 



APPENDIX 251 

tensive view, but on the other sides it is hemmed in by 
mountains, for the local names of which, " Bull Run " and 
<< Nigger Mountain," it is to be hoped the late President 
is in no wise responsible, and, indeed, the same may be 
said of the river or creek which breaks through these 
ranges within a mile or two of Oak Hill. Tom Moore, 
in a poetic letter as brilliant as it is ill-natured, satirizing 
Washington city, writes, " And what was Goose Creek 
once is Tiber now ; " but the fact is that no such stream 
is found in the neighborhood of the national capital. The 
little stream that washes tlie confines of the Oak Hill 
estate once bore the Indian name Gokongarestaw (the 
River of Swans), and is now called Goose Creek. The 
following anecdote connected with Oak Hill is, perhaps, 
worthy of preservation. On the occasion of Lafayette's 
visit to Loudoun, a large number of distinguished guests 
were entertained at Oak Hill. It was at the dinner 
in Leesburg, given to Lafayette, that Mr. Adams drank 
the celebrated toast to the " Patriots of the Revolution 
— like the Sibylline leaves, the fewer they become, the 
more precious they are." In riding back to Oak Hill, 
Mr. Adams, Major William Noland, and Mr. Hay were 
thrown together, when the last-named gentleman, with 
an apology for the seeming impertinence, asked Mr. Ad- 
ams where he conceived the beautiful sentiment he had 
that day drunk. Mr. Adams said that the toast was in- 
spired that morning by a sight of the picture of the Sibyl 
that hung in the Oak Hill ball. " How strange ! " said 
Mr. Hay, "7 have been looking at that picture for years, 
and that thought never occurred to me." 

There are several quite good pictures of the Oak Hill 
house extant — one on Taylor's map of Loudoun County, 
and others in the histories of Virginia (for example, in 
Howe's "Historical Collections of Virginia," p. 356). 



252 APPENDIX 

II 

Washington's notes upon the appendix to mon- 
boe's " view of the conduct of the execu- 
tive," now first printed 

[From the copy by Mr. Sparks now owned by the 
Library of Cornell University. The figures indicate the 
pages in the appendix to Monroe's " View," frona which 
catch-words are taken, introducing the notes written by 
Waslmigton on his copy.] 

Page 119 — '■'■ jealoxisy and distrust." 
Principally because he asserted our rights and 
claiiQiied redress. 

Oxi what ground the suspicion, when it was a noto- 
rious fact that (we) were upon the worst terms short 
of open war with G. Britain ? 

His communications with the French Govt, con- 
tradict this, and accounts [sic] satisfactorily for the 
delay of the reception, as may be seen by reference 
thereto. 

Page 120 — " that I should pursue ? " 
As nothing but justice, and the fulfillment of a con- 
tract was asked, it dictated firmness conducted with 
temperance [sic] in the pursuit of it. 

Page 120 — " were closed against me." 
This appears nowhere but in his own conjectures 
and a/ifer-assertions, for from his own accoimt at the 



APPENDIX 253 

time the delay of his reception was satisfactorily ex- 
plained, and had been the cause of another waiting of 
six weeks.^ See his letter of the 25 of Aug., p. 16. 

Page 120 — '^ place a greater confidence ? " 

By whom were they advised ? and what evidences 
are alluded to ? 

Page 122 — " and then defy us." 

Was a good understanding to be interrupted be- 
cause we were endeavoring to live in peace with all 
the world ? and were only asking from France what 
we were entitled to by treaty ? 

Page 122 — " in favour of that administration : " 
It is not understood what is here meant by conces- 
sion. None was asked, or any [szc] thought of being 
made. 

Page 122 — " decisively on the decline." 
It will not be denied, it is presumed [sic], that 
there had been and might again be great viscissitudes 
in their affairs, bothe [sic] externally and internally. 
Prudence and policy therefore required, that the 
Govt, of the U. S. should move with great circum- 
spection. 

Page 123 — " the point in question." 
A very singular mode truly to obtain it, but look 

^ This " waiting of six weeks " refers to the delay in receiv- 
ing the minister of Geneva. — Editor. 



254 APPENDIX 

to letter of Nov. 7'^, 1794, pp. 58, 59, and judge 
whether it would not have been accomplished sooner 
if he had desired it ; — and what can he mean by not 
conceding, when in explicit terms he has declared 
that the point, if upon consideration they desired it, 
would have been given up with pleasure ! 

Page 123 — " upon the slightest intimation." 

That is to say, if we would not press them to do 
us justice, but have yielded to their violations, they 
would \_sic~\ aided us in every measure, which would 
have cost them nothing. 

Page 124 — ^'■from the western posts," 
By what means were the British to be expelled 
from the Western posts, without first conquering 
Canada, or passing thro' the territory of the U. S., 
and would not the latter, by the law of nations, have 
been a cause of war ? The truth is Mr. Manroe [sic] 
was cajoled, flattered, and made to believe strange 
things. In return he did, or was disposed to do, 
whatever was pleasing to that nation ; reluctantly 
urging the rights of his own. 

Page 140 — " in the second the whole." 
This is a mistake, — no such promise to be found 
in the 2^ letter. See p. 105, Nov. 25'^ 

Page 140 — ^Ho me on the subject ? " 
The intention was to enable him on the veracity 
and authority of the negotiator of the Treaty to assert, 



APPENDIX 255 

that there was nothing contained in it repugnant to 
our engagement with France, and that was all that 
they or he had a right to expect. 

Page 147 — '■'■power alone to make it, etc." 
And this ought to have satisfied the French Govt. 
It was as much as that Govt, would have done for us 
or any other nation. 

Page 148 — " m?/ secretary, Mr. Gauvain " 
Here is a striking instance of his folly. This 
secretary of his was a foreigner — it is believed a 
Frenchman — introduced no doubt to his confidence 
and papers for the sole purpose of communicating to 
the Directory the secrets of his office. 

Page 160 — " with you in June nc'xt." 
The sufferings of our citizens are always a sec- 
ondary consideration when put in competition with 
the embarrassments of the French. 

Page 161 — " reasons above suggested." 

Hence is a disregard shown to repeated orders of 
his government to press this matter. 

Page 207 —" me to do it here." 
What inference is to be drawn from this declara- 
tion ? What light is it in Philadelphia, that is to dis- 
cover the sense of the French Govt, in Paris, before 
it was divulged there ? — except the conduct of the 
French party by whom the wheels were to be moved ? 



256 APPENDIX 

Page 210 — " of this government" 
If he does not mean himself here, it is not difficult 
to guess who the other character is marked out by 
this description. 

Page 210 — " of what kind micst it be f " 
War was the suggestion, and is here repeated. 
This has no horrovs when waged in favor of France, 
but dreadful even in thought when it is against her. 



>> 



Page 297 — " decide in his case. 
Mr. Fenwick was accused of covering by the 
American flag French money under false invoices, 
but Mr. M. could readily excuse this breach of faith 
in his office. 

Page 313 — *^ furnished lose its force." 
England before the late treaty with the U. S. and 
France were different in their commercial relations 
with America. 

Page 314 — " than in precise terms ; " 
For the best reason imaginable ; because none 
could be urged that had any weight in them. 

Page 321 — " the United States have taken" 
Only in cases where the captors have contravened 
the treaty — acting contrary to the laws of nations 
— or our own municipal laws. 



APPENDIX 257 

Page 322 — ^'^ prizes into those ports." 

A single instance only of a prize being brought in 
is recollected, and against it a strong remonstrance 
was made ; — without prizes, ships of war are not 
restrained by the Treaty. 

Page 322 — " executing their judgments." 
No interruption has been given to tliis. To carry 
their own judgments into effect has constituted the 
difficulty, — and in its nature it is nearly impossible 
to do it. 

Page 322 — " certified by the consuls." 
This is the French construction of the Act. The 
Judiciary of the U. S. interpret it otherwise ; over 
whom the Executive have [sic] no control. 

Page 322 — " safeguard of their flag." 
This arrestation was for an offense committed 
against the law of nations and those of the U. S. 
and has been explained over and over again. See 
the Sec'" of State's Letter, 13"" of June, p. 364. 

Page 323 — " merited an example." 

What more could the U. S. do than was done ? See 
the Sec'y of State's Letter, Sept. 14''', 1795, p. 292. 

Page 323 — " least contested, of neutrality." 
These are assertions upon false premises. Strange 
indeed would it be if the U. S. could not make a 



258 APPENDIX 

treaty without the consent of the French Govt, when 
that treaty infracted no prior engagements, but ex- 
pressly recognizes and contirms them. 

Page 323 — " ^Ae principles of neutrality ? " 
They have given nothing, but left those principles 
precisely upon the ground they stood [sic] before 
the Treaty ; with some explanations favorable to 
the U. S. and not injurious to France. They have 
made nothing contraband, that was not contraband 
before ; — nor was it in their power to obtain from 
G. B. a change, which the Armed Neutrality, (as it 
was called) could not when combined accomplish. 

Page 345 — " and without delay." 
How strangely inconsistent are liis accounts ! 

Page 356 — " most strict reciprocity." 
From hence it follows, that if A makes a contract 
with B, and C will not make a similar contract with 
him, B will not be bound by his contract, although 
the cases are unconnected with each other [sic]. 

Page 359 — " course of the present war." 
All this he ought to have done, and was instructed 
to do in the beginning ; and had it been urged with 
firmness and temperance, might have prevented the 
evils which have taken place since. 

Page 359 — " my duty would permit ; " 
And a great deal more than his duty permitted 



APPENDIX 259 

Page 371 — " the merit of this delay ; " 

By implication he has done this in a variety of 

instances. 

Page 371 — " was the true catise of it." 
That is, by not pressing the execution of the 
Treaty ; and for compensation to our suffering citi- 
zens. This no doubt was accommodating and pleas- 
ing one party at the expense of the other. 

Page 374 — " be passed by unnoticed." 

Did France expect, that the U. S. could compel 
G. B. to relinquish this right under the law of na- 
tions, while [stcj the other maritime powers of 
Europe (as has been observed before), when com- 
bined for the purpose were unable to effect [i«cj. 
Why then call it an abandonment ? 

Page 377 — " what they did avow." 
This is all external and a flimsy covering of their 
designs. Why else send their emissaries through 
that country to inculcate different principles among 
the inhabitants, a fact that could be substantiated. 

Page 390 — " nations had sworn to." 
Yes, Citizen, and every one else who can read are 
[sic] acquainted with [sic] facts ; and your violations 
of our rights under the Treaty prove (?) it also. 



260 APPENDIX 

Page 391 — " he made through you." 
The treatment of our minister, Gen' Pinckney, is 
a pretty evidence of this ; — the thot' [sic] of parting 
with Mr. Monroe was insupportable by them. 



Ill 

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MONROE, AND THE MONROE 
DOCTRINE 

PREPARED FOR THIS WORK BY J. F. JAMESON, PH. D. 

The following bibliography has been prepared 
with a view to the needs of persons specially study- 
ing the career of Monroe, rather than to those of 
the general reader. Hence it does not ordinarily in- 
clude references to the most familiar sources, such as 
the State Papers, the published correspondence of 
Washington, etc., and the standard histories. It 
aims to include nothing that does not bear directly 
upon Monroe or the Monroe Doctrine ; nor, in even 
the limited area thus marked out, can it hope to be 
complete. The titles under A are arranged alpha- 
betically by authors ; those under B chronologically ; 
those under C first chronologically, according to the 
period of Monroe's public life to which they refer, 
and then alphabetically by authors. At least one 
locality of a book or pamphlet, unless it be a common 
one, has been designated when known. In such de- 
signations, at the end of the title, A indicates the 
existence of a copy in the Astor Library ; B, in the 



APPENDIX 261 

Boston Public Library ; BA, in that of the Boston 
Athenaeum ; C, in the Library of Congress ; H, in 
that of Harvard College ; JCB, in the John Carter 
Brown Library ; JH, in that of the Johns Hopkins 
University ; M, in the Massachusetts State Library ; 
MH, in that of the Massachusetts Historical Society ; 
N, in the New York State Library ; NH, in that of 
the New York Historical Society ; P, in that of the 
Philadelphia Library Company ; S, in that of the 
Department of State ; W, in that of the American 
Antiquarian Society at Worcester. The Maryland 
Historical Society is supplied with most of the works 
to which reference has been made in the preparation 
of this volume. 

SYNOPSIS. 

A. BlOGBAPHICAL. 

B. Published WRrriNGS of Monroe. 

C. Publications relating to the Public Career ob 

THE Writings of Monroe. 

1. First Diplomatic Service and the " View." 

2. Louisiana Purchase and Spanish Mission. 

3. Diplomatic Efforts in England. 

4. Period of Cabinet Of&ce. 

5. Presidency. 

6. Subsequent Period. 

D. The Monroe Doctrine. 

1. Its Immediate Origin. 

2. Discussion of it in Treatises on International Law. 

3. In more Special Treatises and Articles. 
a. American. 6. European. 

4. Occasions on which it has been applied. 

a. The Panama Congress. 

b. Yucatan. 



262 APPENDIX 

c. The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. 

d. Central America, 1845-1800. 
c. Cuba, etc., 1850-1898. 

y. French Intervention in Mexico. 
g. The Inter-oceanic Canal. 
h. America North of the United States. 
I. The Pan-American Conference. 
j. The Venezuela-Guiana Boundary. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
A. Biographical. 

John Quincy Adams : An Eulogy on the Life and Character 
of James Monroe, Fifth President of the United States, . . . 
delivered at . . . Boston, August 25, 1831. Boston, 1831. 
8vo, pp. 100. BA, N. (See [John Armstrong] under C. 6, 
p. 277.) 

John Quincy Adams : Lives of Celebrated Statesmen. [Madi- 
son, Lafayette, and Monroe.] New York, 1846. 8vo, pp. 
105. N. 

John Quincy Adams : The Lives of James Madison and James 
Monroe, Fourth and Fifth Presidents of the United States. 
With Historical Notices of their Administration.s. Buffalo, 
1850. 12nio, pp. 432. C. -f i Philadelphia, 1854. M. 

S. L. Gouverneur: Introduction to "The People, the Sover- 
eigns," by James Monroe. See under B. 

S. L. K[napp] : in James B. Longacre and James Herring, 
National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans, vol. 
3. Philadelphia, 1836. 8vo. 

[S. L. Knapp] : James Monroe, [n. p., n. d.] 8vo, pp. 10. 
(Portrait.) 

Lippincott's Magazine, first series, vol. 9, p. 359. 

A Narrative of a Tour of Observation, made during the Sum- 
mer of 1817, by James Monroe, President of the United 
States, through the North-Eastern and North-Westem De- 
partments of the Union ; with a View to the Examination of 

^ The sign -|- indicates another edition. 



APPENDIX 263 

their several Military Defenses. With an Appendix. Phila- 
delphia, 1818. 12mo, pp. 2:28, xxxvi. B, C, N. 

New England Magazine, vol. 1, p. 178. 

New York Mirror, vol. 12 [1834-5], p. 41, (Portrait.) 

Niles' Register, vol. 10, p. 4, March 2, 1810 ; from the 
National Advocate. Also, December 3, 1825, and vol. 35, 
p. 68. Also, vol. 40, p. 369, July 23, 1831. 

Order of Exercises at the Old South Church, Commemorative 
of . . . James Monroe. . . . August 25, 1831. Boston, 1831. 
8vo, pp. 8. B. 

T. Paine : Anecdote of James Monroe and Ruf us King, in 
Political Writings. London, 1844. BA, C. 

Portfolio, vol. 19, p. 251 : fourth series, vol. 5. Philadelphia, 
April, 1818. (Portrait.) 

WUliam 0. Stoddard : The Lives of the Presidents : James 
Madison, James Monroe, and J. Q. Adams, pp. 128-224. 
New York, 1887. Pp. 331. 12mo, 20 cm. 

R. W. Thompson : Personal Recollections of Sixteen Presi- 
dents. Indianapolis, 1894. 

S. Putnam Waldo : Tour of James Monroe, President of the 
United States, in the year 1817, through the States of Mary- 
land, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, 
Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, 
and Ohio ; together with a Sketch of his Life. Hartford, 

1818. 12mo. pp. 300. BA. 

S. P. Waldo : Tour of James Monroe, President of the United 
States, througli the Northern and Eastern States, in 1817 ; 
his Tour in 1818, with a Sketch of his Life. Hartford, 

1819. 12mo. C. 

In Edwin Williams: The Statesman's Manual. New York, 
1847. 8vo, vol. 1. 

Udolpho Wolfe : Grand Civic and Military Demonstration in 
Honor of the Removal of the Remains of James Monroe, 
Fifth President of the United States, from New York to 
Virginia. New York, 1858. 12mo, pp. 324. C. 
(And numerous unimportant notices in lives of the presi 

dents, cyclopaedias, and biographical dictionaries.) 



264 APPENDIX 

B. Published Writings of Monroe, 

(in addition to the messages, dispatches, and letters which 
may he found in familiar sources. Manuscripts of Monroe's 
public papers are in the possession of the Department of 
(State ; much of his private correspondence is in the possession 
of Mrs. S. L. Gouverneur, Jr., of Washington.) 

The Writings of James Monroe. Edited by Stanislaus Murray 
Hamilton. [In six or seven volumes.] New York. G. P. 
Putnam's Sons, 1898, et seq. 

The first volume of this collection, — the only one that 
has yet appeared, July, 1898, — contains reprints of the two 
following : — 

Some Observations on the Constitution. Pp. 24, small quarto. 
(A copy, thought to be unique, was recently found by 
Mr. John P. Weissenhagen, of the Bureau of Rolls and 
Library, in the Department of State.) 

Observations upon the Proposed Plan of Federal Government. 
With an Attempt to answer some of the Principal Objections 
that have been made to it. By a Native of Virginia. Peters- 
burg. Printed by Hunter and Prentis. 1788. Pp. (54, 
small quarto. (A copy, supposed to be unique, is in the 
Library of the Department of State.) 

A View of the Conduct of the Executive, in the Foreign 
Affairs of the United States, connected with the Mission to 
the French Republic in the years 1794, '5, and '6. By James 
Monroe. . . . Illustrated by his Instructions and Correspond- 
ence and other Authentic Documents. PLdladelphia, 1797. 
8vo, pp. Ixvi., 407. + Same, the Second Edition. London, 
1798. 8vo, pp. viii., 117. + Same, the Third Edition. 
London, 1798. 8vo, pp. xvi., 117. (See London Monthly 
Review, vol. 25, p. 232.) 

Governor's Letter to the Speaker and House of Delegates of 
Virginia, 6th December, 1802. Richmond, 1802. 12mo. C. 

A Letter from the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United 



APPENDIX 265 

States to Lord Mulgrave, late Secretary of State for Foreign 
AfFairs. With [James Madison] : An Examination of the 
British Doctrine which subjects to Capture a Neutral Trade 
not open in Time of Peace, [n. p.] 1806. 8vo, pp. 204. 
-|- Second Edition. London, 1806. B, C. 

Correspondence between . . . Thomas Jefferson, President of 
the United States, and James Monroe, Esq. . . . Boston, 
1808. 4to, pp. 8. BA. 

Letter from the Secretary of State to Mr. Monroe, on the sub- 
ject of the attack on the Chesapeake. The Correspondence 
of Mr. Monroe with the British Government ; and also Mr. 
Madison's Correspondence with Mr. Rose, on the same sub- 
ject. Washington, 1808. 8vo. (Peabody Library, Balti- 
more.) 

Letters of James Madison ... to Mr. Monroe on . . . Im- 
pressments, etc. Also Extracts from, and Enclosures in, 
the Letters of Mr. Monroe to the Secretary of State. Wash- 
ington, 1808. 8vo, pp. 130. B, MH. 

Defence of the Mission to England. . . . Washington, 1808. 
8vo. 

Letters between James Monroe, Esq., Secretary of State of 
the United States, and Augustus J. Foster, Esq., . . . 
Minister Plenipotentiary of his Britannic Majesty ; in rela- 
tion to the Orders in Coimcil, and the Affair of the Little 
Belt. To which is added, the Declaration of War. New 
York, 1812. 12mo, pp. 59. B. 

To all who are honestly searching after the Truth. Mr. Mon- 
roe's Letter on the Rejected Treaty between the United 
States and Great Britain, concluded by Messrs. Monroe and 
Pinkney. Also the Treaty itself, and Documents connected 
with it. Portland, 1813. 8vo, pp. 52. BA, C. 

Commercial Regulations of Foreign Countries. [Message.] 
Washington, 1819. BA. 

Message from the President, transmitting Sundry Papers re- 
lating to Transactions in East and West Florida. April 19, 
1822. [Washington, 1822.] Pp. 46. P. 

Message transmitting a Digest of the Commercial Regulations 



266 APPENDIX 

of the Different Foreign Nations. Washington, 1824. 18th 
Congress, 1st Session, House Doc. No. 130. BA, M. 

Message transmitting a Report of the Secretary of the Navy. 
Washington, 1824. 8vo. C. 

Correspondence hetween Gen. Jackson and Mr. Monroe, aa 
published in the National Intelligencer. Washington, 1824. 
12mo. N. 

The Memoir of James Monroe, Esq., relating to his Unsettled 
Claims upon the People and Government of the United 
States. [With documents.] Charlottesville, Va., 1828. 
8vo, pp. 60. BA, C, NH. 

A Letter from James Monroe, in Answer to . . . Questions 
[on War and Slavery, etc.] . . . [n. p., 1863 ?] 8vo, pp. 
32. H. 

The People, the Sovereigns, Being a Comparison of the Gov- 
ernment of the United States with those of the Republicks, 
which have existed before, with the Causes of their Deca- 
dence and Fall. By James Monroe. Edited by S. L. Gou- 
vemeur. Philadelphia, 1867. 12mo, pp. 274. (See, under 
C 6, C. C. Haze well, p. 277.) 

Calendar of the Correspondence of James Monroe. [Bulletin 
of the Bureau of Rolls and Library of the Department of 
State, No. 2.] Washington, 1893. Pp. 371. 

C. Publications relating to the Public Career or 
THE Writings of Monroe. 

1. First Diplomatic Service and the " yiew." 

Alexander Addison : Observations on the Speech of Albert 

Gallatin on the Foreign Intercourse Bill. Washington, Pa., 

1798. 8vo. 
An Address on the Past, Present, and Eventual Relations of 

the United States to France. By Anticipation. New York, 

[1803]. 8vo, pp. 20. A. 
P. A. Adet : Notes adress^es par le eitoyen Adet, Ministre 

Pl^nipotentiaire de la R^publique Frangaise prfes les Etats- 



APPENDIX 267 

Unis d'Am^rique, Au Secretaire d'fitat des Etats-Unis. 
Philadelphia, 1796. 8vo, pp. 95. + Same, translated. 

[P. A. Adet] : Authentic Translation of a Note from the Min- 
ister of the French Republic to the Secretary of State of the 
United States. New York, 1796. 8vo, pp. 38. N. (See, 
also, Wm. Cobbett.) 

The Anti-Gallican ; or, The Lover of his own Country ; in a 
Series of Pieces . . . wherein French Influence, and False 
Patriotism, are fully and fairly displayed. By a Citizen of 
New England. Philadelphia, 1797. 8vo, pp. 82. (Includes 
Letters on Pseudo-Patriots, by Ascanius ; of which No. VI. 
is on James Monroe.) H. 

Camillus, pseud. : History of French Influence in the United 
States. Philadelphia, 1812. M. 

[William Cobbett] : A History of the American Jacobins, 
commonly denominated Democrats. By Peter Porcupine. 
In Wm. Playfair, The History of Jacobinism. Philadelphia, 
1795. P. 

[William Cobbett] : The Gros Mosqueton Diplomatique ; or, 
Diplomatic Blunderbuss, containing Citizen Adet's Notes to 
the Secretary of State, as also his Cockade Proclamation. 
With a Preface by Peter Porcupine. Philadelphia, 1796. 
8vo, pp. 72. C. 

William Cobbett : Porcupine's Works. London, 1801. 8vo. 
[Vol. iv. contains The Diplomatic Blunderbuss (Oct. 31, 
1796) ; Political Censor, No. vi. (Nov. 1796) ; A Brief 
Statement of the Injuries and Insults received from France 
(Feb. 1797). In vol. v. pp. 131-138 ; vol. vi. pp. 12, 13, 
92-98, 116-124, 358-376, 414-417 ; vol. vii. pp. 90-95, 151- 
156, are notices of Monroe's doings, from Porcupine's Ga- 
zette, 1797. Vol. X,, Dr. Morse's Exposition of French In- 
trigue in America.] 

Coup d'ceil sur la situation des affaires entre la France et les 
Etats-Unis de I'Am^rique. 1798. 8vo, pp. 28. BA. 

J. Dennis : Address on the Origin, Progress, and Present State 
of French Aggression. Philadelphia, 1798. BA. 

Wm. Duane : A History of the French Revolution, with a 



268 APPENDIX 

free Examination of the Dispute between the French and 
American Republics. Philadelphia, 1798. 4to. 

Joseph Fauchet : Coup d'oeil sur I'^tat actuel de nos rapports 
politiques avec les Etats-Unis de I'Am^rique Septentrionale ; 
par J. Fauchet, Ex-ministre de la R^publique h Philadel- 
phie. Paris, an V. [1797.] 8vo, pp. 42. H. 

Joseph Fauchet : A Sketch of the Present State of our Po- 
litical Relations with the United States of North America. 
. . . Translated by the Editor of the " Aurora." [Wm. J. 
Duane.] Philadelphia, 1797. Svo, pp. 31. BA. 

A Five Minutes' Answer to Paine's Letter to Washington, 
London, 1797. Svo, pp. 44. MH. (See below, T. Paine.) 

[Albert Gallatin] : An Examination of the Conduct of the 
Executive of the United States toward the French Repub- 
lic ; ... In a Series of Letters. By a Citizen of Pennsyl- 
vania. Philadelphia, 1797. Svo, pp. vi., 72. BA. 

Albert Gallatin : The Speech of Albert Gallatin, delivered in 
the House of Representatives ... on the First of March 
1798. Upon the Foreign Intercourse Bill. [n. p., 1798.] 
8vo, pp. 48. (And other Editions.) BA, H, MH, P, JCB. 

[A. G. Gebhardt] : Actes et M^moires concernant les n^go- 
ciations qui ont eu lieu entre la France et les Etats-Unis 
d'Am^rique. [1793-1800.] Londres, 1807. 3 vols. 12mo. 
BA. 

A. G. Gebhardt : State Papers relating to the Diplomatick 
Transactions between the American and French Govern- 
ments. [1793-1800.] London, 1816. 3 vols. 8vo. BA. 

L. Goldsmith : An Exposition of the Conduct of France to 
America, illustrated by Cases decided in the Council of 
Prizes in Paris. [179.3-1808.] London, 1810. Svo, pp. 133. 
(Various other editions.) B, BA, H. 

[Alexander Hamilton.] See [Uriah Tracy], below. 

R. G. Harper : Observations on the Dispute between the 
United States and France, addressed by Robert Goodloe 
Harper, Esq., of South Carolina, to his Constituents in 
May, 1797. Philadelphia, 1797. Svo, pp. 102. (And 
twenty other editions.) B, BA, H, NH, P. 



APPENDIX 269 

R. G. Harper : Mr. Harper's Speech on the Foreign Intercourse 
Bill, in Reply to Mr. Nicholas and Mr. Gallatin. Delivered 
in the House of Representatives of the United States, on the 
second of March, 1798. [n. p., n. d.] 8vo, pp. 43. (And 
other editions.) B, H, MH, NH, P. 

K. G. Harper : A short Account of the principal Proceedings 
of Congress in the late Session, and a Sketch of the State 
of Affairs between the United States and France, in July, 
1798, in a Letter to one of his Constituents. Philadelphia, 
1798. 8vo. 

P. Kennedy : An Answer to Mr. Paine's Letter to General 
Washington ; or. Mad Tom convicted of the Blackest In- 
gratitude. London, 1797. 8vo, pp. 55. JOB. 

A Letter to Thomas Paine, in Answer to his Scurrilous Epis- 
tle .. . to Washington . . . By an American Citizen. New 
York, 1797. 8vo, pp. 24. 

L'lnd^pendance absolue des Ara^ricains des Etats-Unis, prou- 
v^e par I'^tat actuel de leur Commerce avec les Nations 
Europ^ennes. Paris, 1798. 8vo, pp. 149. (Written by an 
American merchant, in answer to Fauchet, Coup d'oeil, 
above.) 

Thomas Paine : A Letter to George Washington, President of 
the United States, on Affairs Public and Private. Phila- 
delphia, 1796. 8vo, pp. 76. (And other editions.) B, BA, 
H. (Also in vol. i. of Works. PhUadelphia, 1854. 12mo.) 

E. C. J. Pastoret : Conseil des Cinq-Cents : motion d'ordre sur 
I'^tat de nos rapports poUtiques et commerciaux avec lea 
Etats-Unis de I'Amdrique septentrionale. Paris, an V. 
[1797]. 8vo, pp. 26. BA. 

[Timothy Pickering] : Lettre du Secretaire d'Etat des Etats- 
Unis de I'Am^rique au G^n^ral Charles C. Pinckney, Mi- 
nistre Pl^nipotentiaire des dits Etats-Unis pr^s la R^publique 
Franqaise ; en reponse aux diff^rentes plaintes faites contra 
le gouvemement des Etats-Unis par le Ministre Frangaia 
. . . 1796. Paris, 1797. 8vo, pp. 62. 

Timothy Pickering and P. A. Adet : Review of the Adminis- 
tration of the United States since '93. Boston, 1797. BA 



270 APPENDIX 

C. C. Tanguy de la Boissiere : Observations sur la d^peche 
^crite le 16 Jan., 1797, par M. Pickering, Secretaire d'Etat 
des Etats-Unis de I'Am^rique, k M. Pinkney, Ministre Pl^ni- 
potentiaire des Etats-Unia pr^s la R^publique Fran^aise. 
Philadelphie, 1797. Also, translated. BA, C. 

[Uriah Tracy, or (?) Alexander Hamilton] : Reflections on 
Monroe's View, ... as published in the Gazette of the 
United States under the Signature of Scipio. [n. p., n. d.] 
8vo, pp. 88. BA, P. 

[Uriah Tracy, or (?) Alexander Hamilton] : [Scipio's] Reflec- 
tions on Monroe's View. . . . Boston, 1798. 8vo, pp. 140. 
C, H, M. 

George Washington : Notes on Monroe's View, Sparks, xi. 
504-529. (His Notes on the Appendix to the View are 
printed in Appendix III of this book.) 

[R. Walsh] : An Enquiry into the Past and Present Relations 
of France and the United States of America. [London, 
1811.] 8vo, pp. 87. (Reprinted from the American Review, 
voL i.) 

2. Louisiana Purchase and Spanish Mission. 

Analysis of the Third Article of the Treaty of Cession of 
Louisiana. [Washington (?)], 1803. 8vo, pp. 8. 

Atlantic Monthly, vol. 32, p. 301. The Louisiana Purchase. 

Samuel Brazer, Jr. : Address pronounced at Worcester, May 
12, 1804, in Commemoration of the Cession of Louisiana to 
the United States. Worcester, 1804. 8vo, pp. 15. MH. 

[Charles Brockden Brown] : An Address to the Government 
of the United States on the Cession of Louisiana to the 
French, and on the late Breach of Treaty by the Spaniards. 
PhUadelphia, 1803. 8vo, pp. 92. C, N. 

[Charles Brockden Brovni] : Monroe's Embassy ; or. The 
Conduct of the Government in relation to our Claims to the 
Navigation of the Mississippi, considered, by the Author of 
the Address to the Government. . . . [Signed " Poplicola."] 
Philadelphia, 1803. 8vo, pp. 57. BA, C. 

Camillus, pseud. See Duane, below. 



APPENDIX 271 

James Cheetham : Letters on our Affairs with Spain. New 
York, 1804. 8vo, pp. 59. C. 

S. M. Davis : The Purchase of Louisiana. Chautauquan, vol. 
14, p. 658. 1891. 

Wm. Duane : Mississippi Question. Report of a Debate in 
the Senate of the United States, on the 23d, 24th, and 25th 
Feb., 1803, on Certain Resolutions concerning the Violation 
of the Right of Deposit in the Island of New Orleans. 
PhUadelphia, 1803. 8vo, pp. 198. BA, H. 

[Wm. Duane] : Camillus, pseud. The Mississippi Question 
fairly stated, and the Views and Arguments of those who 
clamor for War, examined. In Seven Letters. Philadel- 
phia, 1803. Svo, pp. 48. BA. 

[Wm. Fessenden] : The Political Farrago, or a Miscellaneous 
Review of the Politics of the United States, . . . including 
. . . Remarks on the "Louisiana Purchase," by Peter 
Dobbin, Esq., R. C. U. S. A. Brattleboro', Vt, 1807, pp. 
59. W. 

C. Gayarr^ : The Cession of Louisiana to the United States. 
De Bow's Mag., n. s., vol. 1, pp. 256 and 404. 1866. (See 
also his History of Louisiana.) 

Wm. Maclure : To the People of the United States on the 
Convention with France of 1803. Philadelphia, 1807. P. 

A. B. MagTuder : Reflections on the Cession of Louisiana to 
the United States. Lexington, 1803. BA. 

F. de Barbd-Marbois : Histoire de la Loiiisiane et de la Ces- 
sion de cette Colonie par la France aux Etats-Unis de 
TAm^rique septentrionale. Paris, 1829. Svo, pp. 485. 
BA, H. 

F. de Barb^-Marbois : The History of Louisiana, particularly 
of the Cession of that Colony to the United States of 
America. Translated from the French by an American 
Citizen. [William Beach Lawrence.] Philadelphia, 1830. 
Svo, pp. xviii., 455. C, H. (See Sparks, below.) 

M^moires sur la Louisiane et la Nouvelle-Orl^ans, accompagn^ 
d'une Dissertation sur les avantages que le commerce de 
I'Empire doit tirer de la stipulation faite par I'article 7 du 



272 APPENDIX 

Traits de cession, du 30 avril 1803 ; par M. * * * Paris, an 
XII. [1804]. 8vo, pp. 176. 

Q. Morris. See Ross, below. 

Geo. Orr : The Possession of Louisiana by the French, consid- 
ered as it affects the interests of those Nations more imme- 
diately concerned, viz. : Great Britain, America, Spain, and 
Portugal. London, 1803. 8vo, pp. 45. BA. 

J. M. Peck : The Annexation of Louisiana. Christian Review, 
vol. 16, p. 555. 

Political, Commercial, and Statistical Sketches of the Spanish 
Empire in both Indies ; and a View of the Questions between 
Spain and the United States respecting Louisiana and the 
Floridas. London, 1809. Svo, pp. 156. BA. 

David Ramsay : Oration on the Cession of Louisiana to the 
United States ; delivered May 12, 1804, in Charleston, S. C. 
Charleston, 1804. 8vo, pp. 27. BA. 

C. F. Robertson : The Louisiana Purchase and its Influence 
on the American System. New York, 1885. (Am. Hist. 
Asso. Pap., vol. 1, No. IV.) 

J. Ross and G. Morris : Speeches in Support of Ross's Reso- 
lutions relating to the Free Navigation of the Mississippi. 
PhUadelphia, 1803. BA. 

Jared Sparks : The History of the Louisiana Treaty. North 
American Review, vol. 28, p. 389 (April, 1829), and vol. 30, 
p. 551 (April, 1830). (Reviews of Marboia and of the 
translation of it.) 

Sylvestris, pseud. : Reflections on the Cession of Louisiana to 
the United States. Washington, 1803. BA, P. 

B. Vaughan : Remarks on a Dangerous Mistake made as to 
the East Boundary of Louisiana. Boston, 1814. Svo, pp. 
28. BA. 

3. Diplomatic Efforts in England. 

American Candour, in a Tract lately published at Boston, en- 
titled " An Analysis," . . . etc. (See [J. Lowell], below.) 
London, 1809. 8vo. 

American State Papers and Correspondence between Messr& 



APPENDIX 273 

Smitli, Pinkney, Marquis Wellesley, General Armstrong, M. 
Champagny, M. Turreau, Messrs. Russell, Monroe, Foster, 
etc. London, 1812. 8vo, pp. 187, 116. H, 

Nathaniel Atcheson : American Encroachment on British 
Eights. London, 1808, pp. xiii., cxiii., 250. Also in Pam- 
phleteer, vol. 6, pp. 3.3-98, 361-400. BA. 

A. B. : Six Letters of A. B. on the DifFerence between Great 
Britain and the United States of America, with a Preface 
by the Editor of the Morning Chronicle. London, 1807. 
8vo, pp. 48. BA. 

Alex. Baring : An Inquiry into the Causes and Consequences 
of the Orders in Council ; and an Examination of the Con- 
duct of Great Britain towards the Neutral Commerce of 
America. London, 1808 (and other editions). C, H, P. 
(See T. P. Courtenay, below.) 

[Charles B. Brown, or Q. Morris] : The British Treaty [of 
1806. n. p., 1807.] 8vo,pp.86. BA. -}- The British Treaty 
with America, with an Appendix of State Papers ; which 
are now first published. London, 1808. 8vo, pp. 147. N. 

James Cheetham : Peace or War ? or. Thoughts on our Affairs 
with England. New York, 1807. 8vo, pp. 44. B, BA, MH. 

[T. P. Courtenay] : Observations on the American Treaty, in 
Eleven Letters. First published in The Sun, under the Sig- 
nature of " Decius." London, 1808. 8vo, pp. 75. 

T. P. Courtenay : Additional Observations on the American 
Treaty, with some Remarks on Mr. Baring's Pamphlet ; 
being a Continuation of the Letters of Decius. To which is 
added an Appendix of State Papers, including the Treaty. 
London, 1808. 8vo, pp. viii., 94, Ixix. N. 

[Alexander J. Dallas] : An Exposition of the Causes and 
Character of the Late War with Great Britain. Baltimore, 
1815. (And other editions.) BA, C. 

Decius, jDseuc?. See [T. P. Courtenay], above. 

A Farmer, pseud. See Senex, pseud., below. 

Thos. G. Fessenden : Some Thoughts on the Present Dispute 
between Great Britain and America. Philadelphia, 1807. 
8vo, pp. 91. P. 



274 APPENDIX 

An Inquiry into the Present State of the Forei^ Kelations of 
the Union, as affected by the Late Measures of Administra- 
tion. Philadelphia, 1806. 8vo, pp. 183. BA. 

Wm. Lee : Les Etats-Unis et I'Angleterre, ou, Souvenirs et 
Reflexions d'un Citoyen Am^ricain. [1791-1814.] Bor- 
deaux, 1814. 8vo, pp. 346. BA, C, H. 

[J. Lowell] : Analysis of the Late Correspondence between our 
Administration and Great Britain and France. With an 
Attempt to show what are the Real Causes of the Failure of 
the Negotiations between France and America. [Boston, 
1808.] BA. (See American Candour, above.) 

[J. Lowell] : Supplement to the late Analysis of the Public 
Correspondence between our Cabinet and those of France 
and Great Britain. [Boston, 1808.] 8vo, pp. 28. BA. 

[J. Lowell] : Thoughts upon the Conduct of our Administra- 
tion in Relation both to Great Britain and France, more 
especially in Reference to the Late Negotiation, concern- 
ing the Attack on the Chesapeake ; by a Friend to Peace. 
[1808.] 

[J. Madison.] See under B, pp. 264, 265, A Letter, etc., 1806. 

[James McHenry] : Three Patriots, [Jefferson, Madison, and 
Monroe,] or, the Cause and Cure of Present Evils. Balti- 
more, 1811. 8vo. M. 

B. Mihir, pseud. : Considerations in Answer to the Pamphlet 
containing Madison's Instructions to Monroe. Albany, 1807. 
BA. 

[G. Morris] : An Answer to " War in Disguise ; " or. Remarks 
upon the New Doctrine of England concerning Neutral 
Trade. New York, 1806. 8vo, pp. 76. (See, also, [Charles 
B. Brown], above.) 

Timothy Pickering : Letters addressed to the People of the 
United States of America on the Conduct of the Past 
and Present Administrations of the American Government 
towards Great Britain and France. London, 1812. 8vo, 
pp. 168. 

The Present Claims and Complaints of America briefly and 
fairly considered. London, 1806. 8vo, pp. 56. 



APPENDIX 275 

Remarks on the British Treaty with the United States. Liver- 
pool, 1807. BA. 

Report of the Committee to whom was referred the Cor- 
respondence between Mr. Monroe and Mr. Canning, and 
between Mr. Madison and Mr. Rose, relative to the Attack 
on the Chesapeake. April 16, 1808. Washington, 1808. 

Senex, pseud. : Letters imder the signatures of " Senex " and 
of " A Farmer, " comprehending an examination of the con- 
duct of our Executive toward France and Great Britain, 
out of which the present crisis has arisen. Originally pub- 
lished in the North American. Baltimore, 1809. 8vo, pp. 
108. BA. 

[James Stephen], War in Disg^uise; or, the Frauds of Neutral 
Flags. London, 1805. Svo, pp. 215. (See [Q. Morris], 
above.) 

The Tocsin ; an Liquiry into the Late Proceedings of Gi>eat 
Britain, etc. Charleston, 1807. P. 

4. Period of Cabinet Office. 

(See [John Armstrong], under 6, below.) 

Major-General George W. Cullum : The Attack on Washing- 
ton City in 1814. In Papers of the American Historical 
Association. Vol. 2, pp. 54-68. 1888. 

E. D. Ingraham : A Sketch of the Events which preceded the 
Capture of Washington by the British on the Twenty-fourth 
of August, 1814. PhUadelphia, 1849. 8vo, pp. 66. A, B, 
BA,C. 

Remarks on " An Enquiry," etc. (See next title.) Baltimore, 
1816. Svo. BA. 

Spectator, pseud. : Enquiry respecting the Capture of Wash- 
ington by the British. Washington, 1816. 8vo. BA. 

United States, 13th Congress, 3d session. Report of Com- 
mittee to inquire into the Causes and Particulars of the 
Invasion of the City of Washington by the British Forces, 
August. Washington, 1814. 8vo. BA. 

J. S. Williams : History of the Invasion and Capture of Wash- 
ington. New York, 1857. 12mo. BA. 



276 APPENDIX 

5. Presidency. 
Exposition of the Motives for opposing the Nomination of Mr. 

Monroe for the Office of President of the United States. 

Washington, 1810. 8vo, pp. 14. B, BA. 
[C. Pinckney] : Observations to show the Propriety of the 

Nomination of Col. J. Monroe to the Presidency. Charleston, 

181 a BA. 

Edward T. Channing : Oration delivered at Boston, July 4, 

1817. Boston, [1817]. 8vo, pp. 24. BA, MH, W. 

J. L. M. Curry : The Acquisition of Florida. Magazine of 

American History, vol. 10, p. 286. 1887. 
[J. Forsyth] : Observaciones sobre la Meraoria del Setlor Onis, 

relativa k la Negociacion con los Estados Unidos. (See fifth 

title below.) Madrid, 18l'2. 8vo. 
T. W. Higginson : The Administration of James Monroe. 

Harper's Magazine, vol. 68, p. 936. 1883. 
J. R. Ireland : The Republic. History of the United States 

in the Administrations. Chicago, 1888. 18 v. 
Joshua Leavitt : The Admuiistration of Monroe. Harper's 

Monthly Magazine, vol. 29, p. 461. September, 1864. 
Official Correspondence between Don Luis de Onis, Minister 

from Spain, . . . and John Quincy Adams, in relation to 

the Floridas and the Boundaries of Louisiana, etc. London, 

1818. 8vo, pp. 130. C. 

Luis de Onis : Memoria sobre las negociaciones entre EIspaHa y 
los Estados-Unidos de America, que dieron motivo al Tra- 
tado de 1819 ; con una noticia sobre la estadlstica de aquel 
pais, [i. e. Florida]. Acompaila un Ap^udice. Madrid, 
1820. 8vo. H. 

[L. de Onis] : Memoirs upon the Negotiations between Spain 
and the United States of America, which led to the Treaty 
of 1819. With a Statistical Notice of that Country, [Flo- 
rida]. Accompanied by an Appendix. [Translated by 
Tobias Watkins.] Washington, 1821. 8vo. H. 

John Overton : A Vindication of the Measures of the Presi- 
dent and Ills . . . Generals, in the Commencement and 



APPENDIX 277 

Termination of the Seminole War. Washington, 1819. 

8vo. N. 
Wm. Patterson : Letter to Peter Van Schaack, Kinderhook, 

N. Y., on President Monroe and his Cabinet (1822). In 

Magazine of American History, vol. G, p. 217. 
J. F. Ratteubury : Remarks ou the Cession of the Floridas to 

the United States of America, etc. London, 1819. 8vo. C. 

(Also in Pamphleteer, vol. 15.) 
J. Schouler : Monroe and the Rhea Letter. Magazine of 

American History, vol. 12, p. 308. 1884. 
United States, 18th Congress, 2d Session. [1825.] Reports of 

Committees, 79. On President Monroe's Accounts. B. 
Venis, pseud. : Observations on the Existing Differences be- 
tween Spain and the United States. Philadelphia, 1817. 

BA. 

6. Subsequent Period. 

[John Armstrong] : Notice of Mr. Adams' Euloginm on the 
Life and Character of James Monroe. [Washington, 1832.] 
8vo, pp. 32. C, M, N. 

United States, 30th Congress, 2d Session. [1849.] Senate 
Miscellaneous Documents, 10. On President Monroe's Man- 
uscript Papers. 

C. C. Hazewell : Review of " The People, the Sovereigns." 
North American Review, vol. 105, p. 634. (Also noticed 
in the Nation, vol. 5, p. 109.) 

D. The Monroe Doctrine. 

President Monroe's Seventh Annual Message, December 2, 
1823. In Williams' Statesman's Manual, vol. 1, pp. 460, 
461 ; State Papers, Foreign Affairs, vol. 5, pp. 245-250. 

Edward Channing and A. B. Hart, eds. Extracts from Official 
Declarations of the United States embodying the Monroe 
Doctrine, 1789-1891. [American History Leaflets, No. 4.] 
New York, 1892. 

S. M. Hamilton : Hamilton Fac-similes of Manuscripts in the 
National Archives relating to American E[istory. Pt. L The 
Monroe Doctrine. New York, 1896. 



278 APPENDIX 

1. Its Immediate Origin. 

The Principles of the Holy Alliance ; or Notes and Manifes- 
toes of the Allied Powers. London, 1823. 

North American Review, vol. 17, p. 340, October, 1823. (Re- 
view of the above. See especially pp. 373-375.) 

Diplomatic Review, vol. 13, pp. 65-69 (August 2, 1865), 73- 
74 (September 6, 1865), 81-86 (October 4, 1865). 

F. R. de Chateaubriand, Congr^s de Tyrone. Guerre d'Es- 
pagne. N^gociations. Colonies espagnoles. 2e ^d. Paris, 
1838. 2 vols. 8vo. C. + (Translated), Memoirs of the 
Congress of Verona. London, 1838. 2 vols. 8vo. C, N. 

Briefwechsel zwischen Varnhagen von Ense und Oelsner. 
Vol. 3. 

A. G. Stapleton : The Political Life of the Right Honorable 
George Canning, 1822-1827. 3 vols. London, 1831. 

Conference of Mr. Canning with Prince Polignac, October 9, 
1823 ; in Annual Register, vol. 66, p. 99. 

[G. Canning] : Official Correspondence, Notes by E. J. Sta- 
pleton. 2 vols. Longmans, 1887. 

George Canning : Speech in the House of Commons, Decem- 
ber 12, 1826. In Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, New 
Series, vol. 16, pp. 390-398 ; Annual Register, vol. 68, p. 
192 ; Canning's Speeches, vol. 6, pp. 108, 109. 

Richard Rush : Memoranda of a Residence at the Court of 
London. Philadelphia, 1845. 2 vols. 

John Quincy Adams : Diary. Vols. 4 and 6, passiin. 

John T. Morse, Jr. : John Quincy Adams. [American States- 
men Series.] Pp. 130-137. 

Mr. Adams to Mr. Rush, July 22, 1823. State Papers, For- 
eign Affairs, vol. 5, pp. 791-793, etc. 

Mr. Clay's Resolution, ofFered January 20, 1824. Annals of 
Congress, 18th Congress, 1st Session, vol. 1, p. 1104; Benton's 
Abridgment, vol. 8, p. 650 ; Niles' Register, vol. 25, p. .335. 

President Monroe's Eighth Annual Message, December 7, 
1824. In Statesman's Manual, vol. 1, pp. 476, 479, 480; 
State Papers, Foreign Affairs, vol. 5, pp. 353-359. 



APPENDIX 279 

JeflFerson to Monroe, October 24, 1823. Works, vol. 7, pp. 

315-317. 
Madison to Monroe, October 30, 1823. Works, vol. 3, p. 339. 
Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. No. 23. 

1882. Extracts from the Letters and Diary of William 

Plumer, Jr. 

2. Discussion of it in the Chief Treatises on International Law. 

J. C. Bluntschli: Droit International Codili^. Paris, 1870. 
Pp. 253, 254. S, JH. 

Carlos Calvo : Derecho Intemacional Te(5rico y PrActico de 
Europa y America. Paris, 1868. Vol. 1, pp. 142-154, and 
note (from Dana's Wheaton). S. + French translation, 
Droit International, etc. 3*" ^d., Paris, 1880. JH. 

Sir Edward S. Creasy : First Platform of International Law. 
London, 1876. Pp. 120-124. S, JH. 

A. W. Heffter : Das Europaische Volkerrecht der Gegenwart. 
Berlin, 1873. Pp. 96-98. S, JH. 

Wm. Beach Lawrence: Commentaire snr les filaments da 
Droit International et sur L'Histoire des Progr^s du Droit 
des Gens de Henry Wheaton. Leipzig (4 vols.), 1868-1880. 
Vol. 2 (1869), pp. 297-394. S, JH. 

G. F. de Martens : Precis du Droit des gens modeme de I'Eu- 
rope ; augments des notes de Pinheiro-Ferreira. Paris, 
1864. Vol. 1, pp. 208-214. S. 

Robert Phillimore : Commentaries upon International Law. 
London, 1854-1857. Vol. 1, p. 433. JH, 

F. Snow : Treaties and Topics in American Diplomacy, (pp. 
237-356). Boston, 1894. 8vo. 

Henry Wheaton : Elements of International Law. Law- 
rence's edition (1855), p. 97 ; Dana's edition (1866), p. 112. 

3. In more Special Treatises and Articles. 

a. AMERICAN. 

John Quincy Adams. See Edward Everett, below. 
America for Americans. Democratic Review, vol. 32, pp. 187, 
193 ; vol. 37, p. 263. 



280 APPENDIX 

J. G. Patterson : The Passing of the Monroe Doctrine. Inde- 
pendent, vol. 10, p. 664. May 19, 1898. 

H. A. Boardman : New Doctrine of Intervention, tried by the 
Writings of Washington. Philadelphia, 1852. 8vo, pp. 
63. C. 

W. F. Borrough : The Monroe Doctrine and Its History. 
American Magazine of Civics, vol. 8, p. 47, 1895. 

James Buchanan : Article on the Monroe Doctrine, in Mr. 
Buchanan's Administration on the Eve of the Rebellion. 
New York, 1866. 8vo. BA. 

H. C. Bunts : The Scope of the Monroe Doctrine. Forum, 
vol. 7, p. 192, 1889. 

J. W. Burgess : Recent Pseudo-Monroeism. Political Science 
Quarterly, vol. 11, p. 44, 1896. 

A. C. Gasset : The Monroe Doctrine : Defense not Defiance. 
Forum, vol. 20, p. 456, 1895. 

Catholic World, vol. 31, p. 116. April, 1880. 

[Wm. Duane] : The Two Americas, Great Britain, and the 
Holy Alliance. Washington, 1824. 8vo. P. 

M. P. Dunnell: The Monroe Doctrine. American Law Re- 
view, vol. 29, p. 829, 1894. 

[A. H. Everett] : America, or a General Survey of the Politi- 
cal Situation of the Several Powers of the Western Continent. 
. . . By a Citizen of the United States. Philadelphia, 1827. 

Edward Everett, John Quincy Adams, and others : The Mon- 
roe Doctrine. New York, 1863. 8vo, pp. 17. Also, as No. 
34 of the Loyal Publication Society. 1863. 8vo, pp. 11. 
[Contains Mr. Everett's letter of September 2, 1863, in the 
New York licdger, and Mr. Adams' letter of August 11, 
1837, to the Rev. Dr. Channing.] H, M. 

W. GrammeU : The Monroe Doctrine. In Selected Writings, 
edited by J. O. Murray, pp. 178-198. Cambridge, 1890. 

E. L. Godkin : The Development of the Monroe Doctrine. 
Nation, vol. 62, p. 490, 1895. More about the Monroe Doc- 
trine. Nation, vol. 61, p. 304, 1895. 

J. C. Green : Americanism and the Monroe Doctrine. West- 
minster Magazine, vol. 149, pp. 237-247, March, 1898. 



APPENDIX 281 

Gunton's Magazine, vol. 10, p. 1, 1896. The Philosopliy of 
the Monroe Doctrine. Vol. 10, p. 81, 1896. The Monroe 
Doctrine : Definition and Interpretation. 

Harper's Monthly, vol. 18, p. 418. (Easy Chair.) The Mon- 
roe Doctrine Abroad. 

G. Hosmer : D. C. GUman on the Monroe Doctrine. Open 
Court, vol. 10, p. 4801, 1896. 

Intervention of the United States : The Crisis in Europe. 
Democratic Review, vol. 30, pp. 401 and 554, May, June, 
1852. 

Thomas E. Jevons : The Monroe Doctrine. Bachelor of Arts, 
vol. 2, p. 437, 1895. 

J. A. Kasson : The Monroe Declaration. North American 
Review, vol. 133, pp. 241-254, September, 1881. 

J. A. Kasson : The Monroe Doctrine in 1881. North Ameri- 
can Review, vol. 133, pp. 523-533, December, 1881. 

Gustav Komer : The True Monroe Doctrine. Nation, Janu- 
ary 5, 1882, vol. 34, p. 9. 

Joshua Leavitt: The Monroe Doctrine. New York, 1863. 
8vo, pp. 50. H. (Reprint of article. New Englander, vol. 
22, p. 729, October, 1863. See, also, Joshua Leavitt, under 
A, above, a part of that article.) 

J. F. McLaughlin : The Monroe Doctrine. Richmond, 
1896. 

J. B. McMaster : The Origin, Meaning, and Application of the 
Monroe Doctrine. Philadelphia, 1896. 

National Quarterly Review, vol. 13, p. 114. (1866.) The 
Monroe Doctrine and the South American Republics. 

New Review, vol. 14, p. 47, 1895. The Monroe Doctrine. 

R. Ogden ; Some of the Myths of the Monroe Doctrine. Na- 
tion, vol. 60, p. 356, 1894. 

R. Olney : International Isolation of the United States. At- 
lantic Monthly, vol. 81, pp. 577-588, May, 1893. 

Providence Public Library Monthly Bulletin, vol. 1, No. 6, 
1895. The Monroe Doctrine. 

W. F. Reddaway. The Monroe Doctrine. Cambridge, Eng. 
land, 1898. Pp. 162. 



282 APPENDIX 

T. Roosevelt : The Monroe Doctrine. In his American Ideals. 
New York, 1897. 

W. L. Scruggs : The Monroe Doctrine. Magazine of Ameri- 
can History, vol. 26, p. 39, 1891. 

W. G. Sumner : The Monroe Doctrine : Proposed Dual Organ- 
ization of Mankind. Popular Science Monthly, vol. 49, p. 
433, 1896. 

G. F. Tucker : The Monroe Doctrine. Its Origin and Growth. 
Boston, 1885. 138 pp. 

J. C. Welling : The Monroe Doctrine on Intervention. North 
American Review, vol. 82, p. 478. (1856.) 

J. A. Woodbum : The Monroe Doctrine and Some of its Appli- 
cations. Chautauquan, vol. 22, p. 549, 1895. 

Theodore D. Woolsey. Article " Monroe Doctrine " in John- 
son's Cyclopaedia. 

b. EUROPEAN. 

G. Carnazza Amari : Nuova Esposizione del Principio del noa 

Intervento. Catania, 1873. Pp. 16-24. S. In French, in 

Revue de Droit International, 1873, pp. 352-390, 531-566. 
Banner: Article, " Intervention," in Bluntschli's Staatswor- 

terbuch. 
Carlos Calvo: Une page de droit international, ou I'Ani^- 

rique du Sud devant la science du droit des gens modeme. 

Paris, 26 ^d., 1870. 2 vols. 
Diplomatic Review, vol. 15, p. 92. 
L. B. Hautefeuille : Le principe de Non-intervention et ses 

applications aux ^v^nements actuels. Paris, 1863. 8vo. 

(Reprinted from Revue Contemporaine, vol. 34, p. 193.) 
Heiberg : Das Princip der Nicht-Intervention. Leipzig, 1842. 
L. count Kamarowsky: The Principle of Non-intervention 

(in Russian). Moscow, 1874. 
M. Kapoustine : Le droit d' intervention. 1876. 
Don Rafael Manuel de Labra : De la representacion y influ- 

encia de los Estados-Unidos de America en el derecho in- 

temacional. Madrid, 1877. 38 pp. 
D. D. de Pradt: Vrai syst^me de 1 'Europe relativement k 



APPENDIX 283 

l'Am4rique. . . . 1825. C. + !>* Pamphleteer, vols. 25 

and 26. BA. 
H. von Rotteek : Das Recht der Einmischung in die inneren 

Ang-elegenheiten eines fremden Staates. Freiburg, 1845. 
Carl Riimelin : Die Monroe-Doctrin. In Zeitschrift fiir die 

gesamnite Staatswissenschaft. Tiibingen, 1882. Heft 2. 
Hermann Strauch : Znr Interventions-Lehre. Eine volker- 

rechtliche Studie. Heidelberg, 1879. See especially pp. 

17, 18. 

4. Occasions on which it has been applied. 

a. THE PANAMA CONGRESS. 

Mr. Adams' Messages of February 2, 1826 (St. P., V. 794- 
797) and March 21 (V. 834-897). (Those of December 26, 
1825, and March 15, 1826, are to be found in United States, 
etc., below.) 

American Annual Register, 1826, chap. iv. 

Benton's Thirty Years, vol. i. p. 65. 

Henry Clay's Dispatch to Mr. Poinsett, March 25, 1825 : In 
State Papers, Foreign Affairs, vol. 5, pp. 908, 909. 

Coronel Don Bernardo Monteagudo : Ensayo sobre la Necesi- 
dad de una Federacion Jeneral entre los Estados Hispano- 
Americanos, y Plan de su Organisacion. Obra P6stuma del 
H. Coronel D., etc. Lima, 1825. (See Sparks, below.) 

Niles' Register, vols. 30, 36, passim. 

D. D. de Pradt : Congr^s de Panama. Paris, 1825. BA. 

Revue Britannique, mars, 1826, pp. 159-176. Congr^s de 
Panama. 

[Jared Sparks] : Alliance of the Southern Republics. In 
North American Review, vol. 22, p. 162, January, 1826. 
(Review of Coronel, above.) 

J. M. Torres Caicedo : Union latina americana, etc. Union 
latine-am^ricaine ; la pens^e de Bolivar, son origine et ses 
d^velopperaents. Paris, 1875. (Reviewed by A. Villamus, 
in Revue Politique et Litt^raire, 30 sept., 1876.) 

United States, 19th Congress, 1st Session. [68.] The Execu- 



284 APPENDIX 

tive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States, on the 
subject of the Mission to the Congress at Panama, together 
with the Messages and Documents relating thereto. Wash- 
ington, 1826. Pp. 160. B, P. 

United States, 19th Congress, 1st Session. House of Repre- 
sentatives. [Document No. 129.] Congress of Panama. 
Message from the President of the United States, ... in 
relation to the Proposed Congress to be held at Panama. 
Washington, 1826. Pp. 90. 

United States. Congressional Debates, 19th Congress, 1st Ses- 
sion, vol. 2. Benton's Abridgment, viii. 417-472, 637-675 
(Senate) ; ix. 48-50, 62-76, 90-218 (House of Representa- 
tives). 

United States : The Congress of 1826 at Panama, and Subse- 
quent Movements toward a Conference of American Na- 
tions. Historical Appendix (vol. 4) to the Report of the 
International American Conference. Washington, 1890. 
Pp. .375. 

Don Manuel Lorenzo de Vidaurre : Speech on opening the 
Congress. Niles' Register, vol. 31, pp. 44-47. 

Von Hoist : Constitutional History of the United States, vol. 
1, pp. 409-432. 

Webster's Speech, in Works, vol. 3, pp. 178-217. 



C. Lefebvre de B^cour : Des rapports de la France et de 
r Europe avec 1' Am^rique du Sud. Revue des Deux Mondes, 
juil., 1838. 

b. YUCATAN. 

Mr. Polk's Annual Message of December 2, 1845 (Statesman's 
Manual, iii. 1458) ; his Special Message on Yucatan, of 
April 29, 1848 (iii. 1737). (Benton, xvi. 187, 188.) 

Congressional Globe, vol. 18, and Appendix. 30th Congress, 
1st Session. Benton's Abridgment, xvi. 188, 189 (House) ; 
189, 190, 196-204 (Senate). 

Calhoun's Speech, May 15, 1848, in Works, iv. 454-479. 

Von Hoist, iu. 448-453. 



APPENDIX 285 

1. THE CLAYTON-BULWER TREATY. 

Treaty with New Granada, December 12, 1846, especially Art. 

35. In Statutes at Large, vol. viii. 
Clayton and Bulwer Convention, 19th April, 1850, between 

the British and American Governments, concerning Central 

America, with Correspondence. 1856. 
Joseph P. Comegys: Memoir of John M. Clayton. (Papers 

of the Historical Society of Delaware, iv.) Wilmington, 

1882. Pp. 190-202, 211-234. JH. 
Congressional Globe. 32d Congress, 2d Session, vol. 26, 1853. 

33d Congress, 1st Session, vol. 28, 1853. Appendix, vol. 29. 

34th Congress, 1st Session, 1855-1856, and appendix. 35th 

Congress, 1st Session. 
Clarendon-Dallas Treaty, 1856. 
G. W. Hobbs: The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. Bay State 

Monthly, vol. 3, p. 17. 1885. 
T. J. Lawrence : Essays on Some Disputed Questions in 

Modern International Law. Essay III, pp. 89-162 ; The 

Panama Canal and the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. Cambridge, 

England, 1885. (And other editions.) 
Nation, vol. 34, p. 92, 1881. J. G. Blaine and the Clayton- 
Bulwer Treaty. 
W. L. Scruggs : The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. North Amer- 
ican Review, vol. 145, p. 313, 1887. 
Treaty with Nicaragua, June 21, 1867. 
United States. 34th Congress, 1st Session. Senate Ex. Doc. 

35. Messages of the President ... on the construction of 

the Treaty of July 4, 1850. (1856). 
See also next section, and the last. 

d. CENTRAL, AMERICA, 1845-1860. 

N[apol^on] L[ouis] B[onaparte] : Canal of Nicaragua, or a 
Project to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by means 
of a Canal. London, 1846. [Not published.] 

Louis Napoleon Bonaparte : Le Canal de Nicaragua, ou projet 
de jonction des oceans Atlantique et Pacifique. Revue 
Britannique, mai, 1849. 



286 APPENDIX 

[Sir Henry Bulwer] : Great Britain and the United States. 
Edinburgh Review, vol. 104, pp. 267-298. July, 1856. 

Canal interoc4anique par I'isthme de Darien, Nouvelle Granade 
(Amdrique du Sud). Canalisation par le colonisation. Paris, 
1860. Pp.203. A. 

Correspondence with the United States respecting Central 
America. Printed by order of Parliament. London, 1856- 
1860. Pp. 344. 

Democratic Review, Oct. 1852. Vol. 31, p. 337. Our Foreign 
Relations. Central America. 

A. Denain : Intdrets qui se rattachent 4 I'isthme de Panama, 
et aux diff^rentes isthmes de I'Am^rique Ceutrale. Paris, 
1845. C. 

Question Anglo-Am^ricaine. Documents ofBciels ^chang^s 
entre les Etats-Unis et I'Angleterre au sujet de I'Am^rique 
Centrale et du traits Clayton-Bulwer. Paris, 1856. S. 

Xavier Raymond : Diplomatic Anglo-Am^ricaine ; les Am^ri- 
cains et les Anglais au Mexique et dans I'Am^rique Cen- 
trale. Revue des Deux Mondes, 15 avril, 1853. 

E. G. Squier: Letter to the Hon. H. S. Foote, Chairman of 
the Committee of Foreign Relations of the United States 
Senate, on the Nicaragua Treaty, 1850. N. 

[E. G. Squier] : The Mosquito Question. Whig Review, Feb- 
ruary, March, 1850. 

[E. G. Squier] : The Islands of the Gulf of Honduras. Their 
Seizure and Organization as a British Colony. Democratic 
Review, vol. 31, p. 544. (November, December, 1852.) 

E. G. Squier : The States of Central America and the Honduras 
Interoceanic Railway. New York, 1858. Pp. 782. N. 

e. CUBA, ETC., 1850-98. 

G. d'Alaux, Cuba et la propagande annexioniste. Revue des 
Deux Mondes, 15 juil., 1850. 

Charles Benoist : Cuba, I'Espagne et les Etats-Unis. Revue 
des Deux Mondes, vol. 141, p. 112, mai 1, 1897. 

Buchanan, Mason and Soul4 : the " Ostend Manifesto." Diplo- 
matic Correspondence, 1854-1855. Buchanan: Message, 
December 3, 1860. 



APPENDIX 287 

General Cass to Lord Napier, May 12, May 29, 1857, . . . No- 
vember, 1858 ; to Mr. Dodge, October 2, 1858. (Spanish 
invasion of Mexico.) 

J. Chanut, La Question de Cuba aux Etats-Unis et en Europe. 
Revue Contemporaine, vol. 8, p. 470. (1859.) 

G. Colmache : How Cuba might have belonged to France. 
Fortnightly, vol. 64, p. 747, 1895. 

Congressional Globe. 33d Congress, 2d Session. (1854-1855.) 
(Ostend Manifesto.) 35th Congress, 2d Session. (1859.) 
(Cuba.) 

A. B. Hart: A Century of Cuban Diplomacy. Harper's 
Magazine, vol. 97, pp. 127-134, June, 1898. 

A. B. Hart : The Ostend Manifesto. American History Leaf- 
let, No. 2. 1892. 

M. W. Hazeltine : Possible Complications of the Cuban Ques- 
tion. North American Review, vol. 162, p. 406, April, 1896. 

V. W. Kingsley : Spain, Cuba, and the United States. Recog- 
nition and the Monroe Doctrine. New York, 1870. 34 pp. 

J. K. Latane : The United States Intervention in Cuba. 
North American Review, vol. 166, p. 350, 1898. 

F. J. Matheson : The United States and Cuban Independence. 
Fortnightly, vol. 66, pp. 816-832, May, 1898. 

Revue Britannique, aout, 18.54 ; pp. 257-290. La question de 
Cuba, jug^e au point de vue Am^ricaine. 

[E. G. Squier ?] : The Cuban Debate. Democratic Review, 
vol. 31, pp. 433, 624. (November, December, 1852.) 

S. Webster : Mr. Marcy : the Cuban Question : and the Ostend 
Manifesto. Political Science Quarterly, vol. 8, p. 1, March, 
1893. 

f. FRENCH INTERVENTION IN MEXICO. 

F. Bancroft : The French in Mexico and the Monroe Doctrine. 
Political Science Quarterly, vol. 11, p. 30, 1896. 

Congressional Globe. 37th Congress, 3d Session, Appendix, 
p. 94. 38th Congress, 1st Session ; the House resolution of 
April 4, 1864, and debate. 39th Congress, 1st Session; 
message on the sending of Austrian troops to Mexico, and 
debate. 39th Congress, 2d Session ; on Mexican affairs. 



288 APPENDIX 

Democratic Review, vol. 32, p. 39. Mexico and the Monroe 

Doctrine. 
Eraser's Magazine, vol. 64, p. 717. December, 1861. Mexico. 
Free Press, Urquhart, vol. 9. November 6, 1861. Collective 

Intervention in the New World. 
Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, vol. 50, p. 415, vol. 51, p. 106. 

(June, August, 1864.) The Conquest of Mexico by France. 
V. W. Kingsley, French Intervention in Mexico, 1863, pph. N. 
A. Laugel : France and the United States. Nation, vol. 1, 

p. 302. (September 7, 1865.) 
Joshua Leavitt : The Key of the Continent. New Englander, 

vol. 23, p. 517. (July, 1864.) 
E. Lef^vre : Histoire de I'intervention fran^aise au Mexique. 

Vol. 2, eh. 18, etc. Bruxelles et Londres. 1869. 
H. Mercier de Lacombe : Le Mexique et les Etats-Unis. 2' 6d. 

Paris, 1863. 8vo. B. 
Mexico and the Monroe Doctrine, [n. p. 1862 ? ] Pp. 24. 
Nation, vol. 1, p. 678. November 30, 1865. The Solution of 

the Mexican Problem. 
Eevue Britannique, septembre, 1863, pp. 213-224. Le Me- 
xique au point de vue am^ricaine, avant et depuia I'exp^di- 

tion f ran9aise. 
G. Reynolds : Mexico. Atlantic Monthly, vol. 14, p. 51. 

July, 1864. 
J. H. Robinson : The Mexican Question. North American 

Review, vol. 103, pp. 106-142. July, 1866. 
J. M. Schofield : The Withdrawal of the French from Mexico. 

Century, vol. 54, pp. 128-137. May, 1897. 
United States: Message and Documents, Department of 

State, 1863-1864. 
United States : Messages of the President of the United 

States to Congress, with accompanying documents relating 

to the Mexican Question. 
Justus Strictus Veritas, pseud. : Nuevas Reflexiones sobre la 

Cuestion Franco-Mexicana. Folleto publicado en Paris, el 

30 de setiembre de 1862 por supplement© al Correo de ul- 

tramar. Mexico, 1862. Pp. 192, C. 



APPENDIX 289 

Westminster Review, vol. 80, p. 313. October, 1863. The 
French Conquest of Mexico. Same art., Eclectic Magazine, 
vol. 61, p. 36. Same art., Living Age, vol. 79, p. 231. 

g. THE INTER-OCEANIC CANAL — (OFFICIAL) 

Congressional Record, vol. 9, p. 2312. Senator Biimside's 
resolution, June 25, 1879. (46th Congress, 1st Session. 
S. R. No. 43.) Further discussion in vol. 10. 

President Hayes : Message, March 8, 1880. In Congressional 
Record, vol. 10, p. 1399. Since printed with documents. 

Papers relating to the Foreign Relations of the United 
States, 1881. Mr. Blaine to Mr. Lowell (circular), June 
24, 1881, pp. 537-540. Lord Granville to Mr. Hoppin, 
November 10, 1881, p. 549. Mr. Blaine to Mr. Lowell, 
November 19, 1881, pp. 554-559 ; November 29, 1881, pp. 
563-569. 

Earl Granville to Mr. West, January 14, (7 ?) 1882. 

Correspondence respecting the projected Panama Canal. Pre- 
sented to both Houses of Parliament by conunand of Her 
Majesty. 1882. 

Mr. Frelinghuysen to Mr. Lowell, May 8, 1882, 

Don Antonio AguUar, Marquis de la Vega de Armijo, to Don 
Francisco Barca, Spanish Minister at Washington, March 
15, 1882. In " the Red Book," Madrid, 1882. 

Congrfes International d' Etudes du Canal Interoc^anique. 
Compte Rendu des Stances. Paris, 1879. 

Bulletin du Canal Interoc^anique, Nos. 1 to 60-|-. (Septem- 
ber 1, 1879, to February 15, 1882.) Paris, 

(unofficial) 
D. Ammen : M. de Lesseps and his Canal. (See Lesseps, 

below.) North American Review, vol. 130, pp. 130-146, 

February, 1880. 
Cassell's, December, 1879. Panama and the Isthmus. 
C. DeHalb : The Nicaragua Canal — Oixrs or England's ? 

Forum, vol. 19, p. 690, 1894. 



290 APPENDIX 

A Delawarean : The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty and the report 
of the Comiuittee of the House on Foreign Relations against 
it May 1, 1880. S. 

Edinburgh Review, April, 1882. The Panama Canal. 

E. L. Godkin : The Nicaragua Canal. Nation, vol. 39, p. 516. 
December, 1884. 

U. S. Grant : The Nicaragua Canal. North American Review, 
vol. 132, pp. 197-216. February, 1881. 

Harper's Monthly Magazine, vol. 60, p. 935. (Easy Chair.) 
Lesseps and the Darien Canal. 

The International Canal and the Monroe Doctrine. New 
York, 1880. Pp. 118. 

L. M. Keasbey : The Nicaragua Canal and the Monroe Doc- 
trine. New York, 1896. Pp. 622. 

F. de Lesseps: The Interoceanic Canal. North American 
Review, vol. 130, pp. 1-15. January, 1880. Vol. 131, pp. 
75-78. July, 1880. 

A. Letellier: Les Travaux du Canal de Panama. Nouvelle 
Revne, 1 juU., 1882. 

W. L. Merry : The Political Aspect of the Nicaragua Canal. 
Overiand Monthly, n. s., vol. 23, p. 497, May, 1894. 

The Monroe Doctrine and the Isthmian Canal. North Amer- 
ican Re\'iew, vol. 130, p. 499. 

The Nation, vol. 30, p. 90. February 5, 1880. The United 
States Government and the Panama Canal. — Vol. 33, p. 
348. November 3, 1881. American Policy towards the 
Isthmus Canal. — Vol. 34, p. 92. February 2, 1882. An- 
other chapter of Mr. Blaine's Diplomacy. — Vol. 34, p. 114. 
February 9, 1882. Mr. Blaine's Manifesto. — Vol. 34, p. 
1.5(>-157. — Vol. 34, p. 200. March 7, 1882. " A Spirited 
Foreign Policy." 

T. W. Osbom: The Darien Canal. International Review, 
vol. 7, pp. 481-497. November, 1879. 

Popular Science Monthly. Vol. 16, pp. 842-849. April, 1880. 
Some Features of the Interoceanic Canal Question. Vol. 
20, pp. 273-275. December, 1881. Our Policy respecting 
the Panama Canal. 



APPENDIX 291 

J. R. Proctor : The Nicaragua Canal. American Journal of 
PoUtics, vol. 2, p. 225, 1892. 

Providence Public Library Monthly Reference Lists, voL 1, 
p. 45, 1881. The Panama Canal. 

Revue Britannique, juil., 1879. Le Congr^s du Canal Inter- 
oc^anique. 

J. C. Rodrigues : The Panama Canal : History, Political As- 
pects, etc. London, 1885. 

Dr. Rudolf Schleiden: Die rechtliche und politische Seit« 
der Panam^Canal-Frage. Preussische Jahrbiicher, Juni, 
1882. 

S. Webster: The Diplomacy and Law of Isthmian Canals. 
Harper's Magazine, vol. 87, p. 602, 1896. 

S. F. Weld : The Isthmus Canal and our Government. Atlan- 
lic Monthly, voL 63, p. 341, March, 1889; The Isthmus 
Canal and American Control. Atlantic Monthly, vol. 64, 
p. 289, September, 1889. 

H. White : The Nicaragua Canal. Nation, vol. 52, p. 44, 
1890. 

T. S. Woolsey : The Interoceanic Canal in the Light of Pre- 
cedent. Yale Review, vol. 4, p. 246, 1896. 

h. AMERICA NORTH OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Nootka-Sound Convention between Spain and Great Britain. 
October 28, 1790. RecueU des Traits, 2« ^d., iv. 492- 
499. 

Treaty between the United States and Spain. February 22, 
1819. Statutes at Large, viii. 252-267. Boston, 1867. 

Ukase of the Emperor Alexander. September 4, (16,) 1821. 
State Papers, Foreign Relations, V. 

Message from the President of the United States ... in rela- 
tion to Claims set up by Foreign Governments, to Territory 
of the United States upon the Pacific Ocean, 1822. 

W. Sturgis : Examination of the Russian Claims to the North- 
west Coast of America. North American Review, vol. 15, 
pp. 370-401. October, 1822. 

Robert Greenhow : History of Oregon and California and 



292 APPENDIX 

other rerritoiies on the Northwest Coast of North America. 

Boston, 1845. 8vo. (And treaties in appendix.) 
Congressional Globe. 40th Congress, 1st (extra) Session. 

(Alaska purchase.) (Also Canada resolution.) 
C. de Varigny : La doctrine Monroe et le Canada. Revue des 

Deux Mondes, 1879, vol. 32. 

t. THE PAN-AMERICAN CONFERENCE. 

United States : International American Conference. Reports, 

4 vols. Washington, 1890. 
W. P. Frye : The Pan-American Congress. Chautauquan, 

vol. 10, p. 70.i, 1887. 
E. P. Powell : The Pan-American Congress. New England 

Magazine, n. s., vol. 5, p. 11, 1892. 
M. Romero : The Pan-American Congress. North American 

Review, vol. 151, pp. 354 and 407, 1887. (Reviewed by R. 

Ogden. Nation, vol. 51, p. 182, 1890.) 
J. Sheldon : Suggestions for the Pan-American Congress. 

New Englander, vol. 51, p. 409, 1889. 
C. de Varigny : Un Homme d'Etat Am^ricain : James Q. 

Blaine et le Congr^s des trois Am^riques. Revue des Deux 

Moudes, vol. 97, p. 433, June 15, 1890. 

j. THE VENEZTJELA-GUIANA QUESTION. 

C. K. Adams : The Monroe Doctrine and the Cleveland Doc- 
trine. Independent, vol. 49, p. 205, February 18, 1897. 

J. Bryce : British Feeling on the Venezuelan Question. North 
American Review, vol. 162, p. 145, February, 1896. 

A. Carnegie : The Venezuelan Question. North American 
ReAriew, vol. 162, p. 127, February, 1896. 

Sir D. P. Chalmers : The Boundary Question [Venezuela]. 
Juridical Review, vol. 8, p. 1, 1896. 

E. D. Cope : The Monroe Doctrine in 1895. Open Court, vol. 
10, p. 4777, January 16, 1895. 

E. Dicey : Common Sense and Venezuela. Nineteenth Cen- 
tury, vol. 39, p. 7, January, 1896. 

E. L. Godkin : The Venezuelan Correspondence. Nation, 



APPENDIX 293 

vol. 6, p. 458, December 26, 1896 ; The Venezuelan Settle- 
ment. Nation, vol. 63, p. 360, 1896. 

G. H. D. Gossip : Venezuela before Europe and America. 
Fortnig-htly, vol. 65, p. 397, 1896. 

H. C. Lodge : England, Venezuela, and the Mom-oe Doctrine. 
North American Review, vol. 160, p. 651, June, 1895. 

D. Low : The Olney Doctrine and America's New Foreign 
Policy. Eclectic Magazine, vol. 128, pp. 161-169, 1897. 

D. Mills : The New Monroe Doctrine of Messrs. Cleveland and 
Olney. Canadian Magazine, vol. 6, p. 365, February, 1896. 

J. Morley : The Arbitration with America. Nineteenth Cen- 
tury, vol. 40, p. 320, 1896. 

National Review, vol. 26, pp. 573 and 737, 1895. The Boun- 
dary Question (Venezuela). 

M. Francis de Pressens^ : La Doctrine de Monroe et le Conflit 
Anglo-Am^ricain. Revue des Deux Mondes, vol. 133, p. 417, 
January 15, 1896. 

J. L. Rice : The Duty of Congress [in Venezuelan Crisis]. 
Forum, vol. 20, p. 761, 1896. 

W. L. Scruggs : The Venezuelan Question. Review of Re- 
views, vol. 12, p. 695, December, 1896. 

E. J. Shriver : An American View of the Venezuelan Dispute. 
Westminster Magazine, vol. 1, p. 117, 1896. 

H. S. Somerset : Great Britain, Venezuela, and the United 
States. Nineteenth Century, vtol. 38, p. 758. November, 
1895. 

H. M. Stanley : The Issue between Great Britain and America 
[in Venezuela]. Nineteenth Century, vol. 39, p. 1, January, 
1896. 

United States : Report and Accompanying Papers of the Com- 
mission appointed by the President of the United States " to 
investigate and report upon the True Divisional Line be- 
tween the Republic of Venezuela and British Guiana." 
Washington, 1897. 4 vols. 

D. A. Wells, E. J. Phelps, and C. Schurz : America and 
Europe : Study of International Relations [Venezuela]. 
New York, 1896. 



2^ APPENDIX 

J. Wheeler and C H. Grosvenor : Our Duty in the Crisis 
[Venezuelan]. North American Review, vol. 161, p. 628, 
November, 1895. 

T. S. Woolsey : The President's Monroe Doctrine. Forum, 
voL 20, p. 708, February, 1896. 



One of the principal architects of the modern Ameri- 
can university, DANIEL COIT GiLMAN (1831-1908) 
was born in Connecticut and studied at Yale. After a 
brief stint as attache with the U.S. legation in St, 
Petersburg, he drafted the plans for the Sheffield Scien- 
tific School at Yale, serving there as librarian and Pro- 
fessor of Geography from 1855 to 1872. In 1875 he 
began his long tenure as first President of the Johns 
Hopkins University, which became a renowned center 
of research and study under his leadership. He also 
served as first President of the Carnegie Institution 
(1901-04) and as President of the National Civil 
Service Reform League (1901-07). 



Robert DaWIDOFF, Associate Professor of History at 
the Claremont Graduate School, is the author of The 
Education of John Randolph. 



4-91 




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